Full Circle
by Devon
Summary: Why did Billy stay on Aquitar please R&R *Billy torture* I've been reading other stories & it seems my rating is a wee bit low so I upped it to be on the safe side
1. Default Chapter

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Disclaimer: Everything in this story that you recognise from the PR shows belongs to Saban. Anything from Starwars belongs to George Lucas. Please don't sue me because I'm broke and my country's currency isn't worth it.

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Note: Special thanks to Blackshard and De nuit for all of their constructive criticism. Without it the story probably wouldn't have been worth it's weight in paper. 

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Full Circle  
by  
Devon

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~*~

"How many times I've sat and prayed  
I'd find some map to show the way  
How many times I've felt each day  
laugh at me and just slip away.  
I don't know where you are  
My eyes are fixed upon your star  
I know that at the journey's end  
I will see your face again." ~ Journey's End by Juluka

~*~

"Dead, she is. The birth too much, it was" a small creature with pointed ears said gravely. 

"What shall we do with the child Yoda?"

"Strong in the Force, he is. Train him, we shall." The Jedi Master replies. His companion looks down at the infant

"Yes but who will look after him until he is ready?" Yoda's gaze falls onto the child

"Look after him; I shall"

"Is that wise?" Yoda simply nods.

~*~

__

The boy is four. He is meditating with Yoda. They are in a large room which has columns, made of a grey stone, holding up the roof. The room itself is made of the same stone complete with ancient carvings. Shafts of light filter into the dimly lit room through uncovered windows. The only noise is falling water from a nearby fountain. The boy looks around the room obviously bored and his concentration broken. A voice breaks the serenity

"Concentrate, you will." 

Exasperated the boy replies " I am trying Master." The two have been meditating for the past half-hour a short time for Jedi but the boy is still young and to him it seems as if they have been there for an eternity. The Jedi Master turns to look at his pupil

"William," he says, his voice is soft and neutral

"Do or do not. There is no try." The boy nods "Yes Master."

~*~

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The boy is ten. He is using the signature weapon of the Jedi. A lightsaber. The training room is covered in soft mats, otherwise it is the same as the one before. Except falling water is not the only sound to be heard. The Jedi pupil is blindfolded and objects are flying towards him. He must use the Force to find them and defend himself. His lightsaber is set at a low power, its green blade slashes through the air towards one of the attackers.

"Let go. Let the living Force guide you. Not all the droids are your enemy." Yoda calls from the sidelines "Come that is enough." The boy powers down his lightsaber and walks towards his Master, removing his blindfold. "Well, you fought. But too much anger, you have." Observes the Master "Learn to control it, you must." The boy bows his head. 

"Yes Master." 

~*~

__

Now the boy is eleven. He is sitting in a room, which looks like a starry night sky. Each star has planets surrounding it. "One day I shall see all the planets in the universe" the boy thinks as he marvels at the sheer quantity of them. Someone slips into the room behind him. The Force alerts the boy of his presence but he is still inexperienced in the ways of the Force and the warning comes to late. The figure strikes the boy and he falls to the ground in an unconscious heap. The figure carries him to a ship. The young Jedi is tied up and he fades in and out of consciousness. 

~*~

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He is sixteen. The Temple and his training a distant memory. The comforting power of the Force is still present, giving him courage and strength, which are hidden behind a deceptive exterior. He is standing in a strange room filled with bright flashing lights. A giant head is floating above their heads. A small robot, similar to those that worked in the Temple but not as advanced, is working on one of the many flashing control panels. His friends are afraid, but the Force comforts him. He knows that the Force will leave him temporarily and he is scared and saddened by the loss of his constant companion. The teens are given strange golden coins. They morph for the first time and the boy faces his destiny. The Force is soon forgotten.

~*~

William Cranston otherwise known as Billy woke up with a start. The dream still fresh in his memory. He felt a deep sense of loss. How could he have forgotten? Suddenly he was incredibly homesick. His eyes started to focus and his blurred friends became clear. Each face was supporting a concerned look. 

"What happened? Why am I in the med.-bay?" The rangers looked at each other before Tommy replied 

"Don't you remember?" Billy shook his head puzzled. "I was going to ask you whether you wanted to come to the Youth Centre with us. Zordon told me that you were in the Zord bay. So I went to find you and you were lying under Kat's Zord. Unconscious." 

"What does 'may the Force be with you' mean? What is the Force?" This was followed by a muffled ouch and whispering because the ranger closest to Rocky had elbowed him in the ribs. Billy, deep in thought and not paying much attention to what was going on around him, muttered 

"And you to." This remark gained confused looks and raised a few eyebrows amongst the rangers. Jason stepped forward 

"Billy, you feeling okay?" Billy did not look up, his brow furrowed and his mind obviously somewhere else, replied 

"Um ... I'm Fine. No complaints." Jason gave a dejected sigh and gently shook his friend. Billy jumped. "What? You still here?" Jason suppressed a smile 

"We're still here." Billy looked over Jason's shoulder 

"So I see," he smiled sheepishly. 

"Billy we're worried about you, I mean you basically told Rocky 'may the Force be with you'. What the hell does that mean?" Zordon looked down at the rangers 

"THAT IS NOT IMPORTANT AT THE MOMENT. BILLY MUST REST NOW." The rangers nodded. "ALPHA DO YOU HAVE THE RESULTS OF THE TESTS YET?" Billy tensed when he heard Zordon mention the word test, but nobody noticed and Billy breathed a sigh of relief. All of the rangers' attention was focused on Alpha, as they waited impatiently for the his diagnosis of their friend. 

"Sorry Zordon the results will only be ready in half an hour. The basic scans do show that there is nothing wrong with Billy."

Even with Alpha's initial report Billy had a hard time convincing Zordon and the rangers that he felt fine. He found it even harder persuading them to allow him to continue working on the Zords and after refusing all offers of help Billy teleported to the Zord Bay. He lent against the wall fighting off the unconsciousness that threatened to overwhelm him. When the bout of nausea eventually passed Billy pushed himself of the wall and then walked shakily to Zeo Zord 1 to complete its repairs. He climbed into the service lift cursing under his breath. He eyed his usual method of ascending the great Zords with distaste. A pulley system, which consisted of a rope, strung through a re-enforced curtain rail, which allowed loads to be pulled up to any part of the Zords. Billy had attached a small motor to the 'pulley' turning it into a fun ride up and down the Zords. Yes it was more fun then the boring lift. Yes it was a way to beat the monotony of the long hours he spent in the Zord Bay. Especially when he attached the pulley to a long wire, which ran from the roof to the floor. And yes it was dangerous, particularly now that the rapid ageing was starting to take effect. 

~*~

He had discovered, that he was ageing at an abnormally fast rate, just after Trey had tried to give him the gold powers. His body had rejected them and he had been bitterly disappointed and embarrassed by this. So much so that he did not want to speak, see or even breathe the same air as his friends. Then, he ran a few tests, which revealed his ageing problem. They also showed, that if he had been able to receive the gold powers, he would have died soon afterwards. This made him feel slightly better but it did not take away the sting he felt every time the rangers went into battle. That was until he went to Triforia. 

Trey had pointed out a few things that Billy had disregarded. Firstly if he had been able to hold the gold powers, once the novelty had worn off, he would have been a lower rank then all of his friends and this could have caused Billy more pain and anguish. The other possibility was that Billy could have gone back to being the second in command and thereby oust Adam out of his position. This could have caused Adam to resent Billy, consciously or subconsciously, either way animosity would have occurred. Billy had raised an eyebrow at Trey; told him he should be shrink and then continued his task. 

~*~

Billy stepped off of the lift and walked towards the service door. He looked down at the floor. He let out a long whistle. Feeling dizzy, he lent back against the side of the Zord. His heart racing. How on earth had he survived the fall? He was amazed that he did not even have concussion. Then as if to prove he could feel worse, realisation struck: he was going to have to try and explain why he had not told the rangers about his ailment. Slowly, he slid down the side of the Zord and pulled his knees up to his chest. He put his head in his hands and closed his eyes. He must have fallen asleep because his communicator woke him, at first he felt lost and confused. Then he remembered his predicament. What was he going to do? He figured; he had two options. He could pretend that Alpha's tests were the first time he had heard of it or he could admit everything. His communicator beeped again. Sighing he teleported to the Power Chamber. Billy's teleportation beam poured into the room signalling his arrival. He was greeted by smiles and relieved looks. 

"Hey Billy. We were worried about you, almost sent a search party to find you!" Billy managed to smile at the remark. He jumped up onto a console and waited with baited breath. He had decided to wait for Alpha's prognosis before he told the rangers anything. 

"RANGERS I HAVE SOME DISTRESSING NEWS. BILLY'S TESTS SHOW THAT HE IS AGEING AT AN ASTONISHING RATE." This was followed by several gasps. Billy took a deep breath and looked at Zordon, but even the sight of his mentor did not quell his feelings of dread. 

"I know" he said softly. The rangers stopped talking and all eyes were on him. Billy sighed. Suddenly he had a problem with eye contact. In fact he had never realised that his shoes could be so interesting. Finally he found his voice "Guys you remember that invention of mine, the Regenerator?" Billy was amazed to find his voice steady. "Well it appears to have had a couple of bugs, that I should have checked out before using it." Adam lifted his head and looked directly at Billy. 

"What type of side effects?" Billy tried to give them a smile. He failed miserably. 

"Well the age correction process along with the destruction of the Command Centre has had adverse effects on me." Billy paused and took a deep steadying breath before continuing, "The explosion trigged a rapid ageing process. By the end of the day I should be roughly a hundred." He stared up at the ceiling, thinking about how stupid he was. Before he could think of any more choice words to insult himself with and perhaps throw in a little bit of imagination to add sting, Adam Interrupted his thoughts, breaking the stunned silence. 

"How long have you known about this?" Once again Billy's feet became the most fascinating thing he had seen since his first Zord. Adam simply nodded "There aren't any negative protons, are there?" There was no reply "this ageing thing is what caused your body to reject the gold powers...isn't it!" Billy could hear the hurt in Adams voice and he felt his heart break. He looked up to see his friends sad, hurt expressions and quickly looked back at his feet, murmuring something about fixing the Zords. He hopped off the console and teleported to the Zord Bay before anyone could react.

~*~

A white light appeared in the Zord bay and materialised into a distraught figure, who immediately lent against the wall. The figure slowly slid down the cold metal surface to the floor. He hated teleportation, always had but this one was particularly bad. He felt disorientated and sick to the stomach. He was not sure whether the teleportation was the cause of the nausea or if it was the pain he had just caused his friends. He stared out into the huge dimly lit chamber that contained his giant creations. He was so confused. He felt as if he was drowning and no one could save him. He fought an inner battle that ravaged his soul. He continued to stare at nothing, willing an answer to come to him and clear his muddled thoughts. He felt so alone, so lost. He wanted to go home, to the temple where everything was clear and simple. Where the sound of waterfalls could be heard in every room and passage. He wanted to visit the star map room and most of all he wanted to hear his Master's comforting voice. Finally letting go of his pride, he allowed tears to flow down his cheeks. He sat in the quiet room; knees pulled to his chest sobbing. Alone.

~*~

Tommy was the first to break the shocked silence. 

"Why didn't he tell us?" Zordon looked at his charges before eventually answering 

"I DO NOT KNOW WHY HE DID NOT INFORM YOU" he confessed "THAT IS SOMETHING YOU WILL HAVE TO ASK HIM YOURSELVES. ALPHA CONTACTED BILLY AND ASK HIM TO RETURN TO THE POWER CHAMBER."

~*~

Billy was still leaning against the wall. His tears had abated and he had managed to fall into a troubled sleep. He was so tired. He wondered what had roused him. His communicator beeped. He did not want to answer it. He did not think he could face the rangers. Not yet. His communicator beeped again. He glared at it. It was starting to annoy him. He chose to continue ignoring it but the rangers were being persistent. Couldn't they take a hint? Or maybe he'd over estimated their intelligence!He drew in a deep breath. 

"Yes?" 

"Billy Could you come to the Main Chamber? Please." 

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*NO,* he screamed in his head, _*I CAN'T FACE YOU!*_ "I'll be right there." He said his voice devoid of any emotion. Billy pressed a button and disappeared in a stream of white light.

He appeared behind the rangers and as soon as he became solid and saw them he prepared to leave again. He was too late, Zordon had seen him. 

"HELLO BILLY." Fighting off a wave of nausea Billy forced himself to smile 

"Hi." The rangers turned their gaze from Zordon to the team genius and an uncomfortable silence filled the room. Billy wished he could sink into the floor. Tommy walked up to him 

"Billy why didn't you trust us. We're a team you should have told us what was going on." Billy lifted his gaze, from whatever it was that had grabbed his attention on the floor and planted it on Tommy.

"You guys had enough on your plate already, with all the monsters Mondo's been sending lately. So I thought I'd try to find a cure before breaking the news." He lied.

"But we're your friends. You should have told us no mater what we were going through." Tanya pointed out and the others muttered an agreement. 

"I know. I'm sorry guys." The apology sounded weak even to his own ears. "Zordon can you contact the Aquitians? I want to ask Cestro..." Zordon cut him off 

"CERTAINLY BILLY. ALPHA CONTACT AQUITAR." While Alpha went to do this, the rangers crowded around Billy asking question after question.

"What's your plan?" 

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Billy sighed in relief as he tried to answer all of their questions.

__

*This is not the time to tell them that the Aquitians already know about my problem.* He smiled to himself. He noticed that Adam was giving him a 'you will tell me later, whether you like it or not' look and the smile disappeared from his face.

~*~

Cestro arrived in the Power Chamber with an array of different gadgets, which he had made with the hope of helping Billy. To Billy the next few hours went by in a blur. Everything he and Cestro tried; failed and on top of that he could not find the Regenerator. Let alone its plans. He was starting to lose hope. Now he was standing in the middle of the Power Chamber, he was holding a bottle of water from the Eternal Falls on Aquitar, which Cestra had given him. This was his last chance. If this did not work he would be going to an early grave, as an old man! He drank from the bottle and for an instant he was young again. Billy looked at the empty bottle, then at the rangers and then, finally at Cestra. She answered their unasked question 

"Billy will have to come back to Aquitar with us. We will give him larger doses over several days." She paused "There is hope." The rangers watched two streams of white light leave the Power Chamber, they let out a collective sigh of relief. They had no doubt that their alien friends would cure Billy. 

~*~

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Aquitar two weeks later.

Billy put down the last bottle. It was over. His last treatment was finished. He was back to normal and he could go home. He knew he would never see Coruscant again. He had realised this after his first month on earth and it saddened him. Billy also knew that earth was now his home and he could not wait to return to it. Cestra stood up and motioned for Billy to follow her.

"It is time for you to go home." Billy couldn't suppress the urge to smile. They made their way to the Aquitian rangers' headquarters. Cestra in the lead and Billy trailing behind grinning like an idiot and almost jumping up and down with excitement. It took them an hour to walk to the lift that would take them to the underwater city where the Command Centre and Billy's quarters were situated. Cestra went to the Command Centre immediately to make sure that everything would be ready for Billy's departure. Billy stayed in the lift tube and went down another floor before disembarking.

He walked down the brightly lit corridor which would take him to his room. He shivered slightly, For some reason he could never stay warm in the underwater city. It reminded him of a hospital, sterile, cold and unwelcoming. His room was dimly lit and barren except for a large bed and cupboard. His bag was lying on the bed already packed. Slinging it over his shoulder, he left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. Deep in thought, Billy ran his fingers along the wall as he walked back to the lift. He pressed the button and tapped his fingers impatiently as he waited for it to come. Something was tugging at his mind telling him to leave Aquitar as quickly as possibly. He pushed the thought away as he stepped onto the lift. As it rose so did his excitement. He was finally going back to earth, where he could sit in the sun and feel warm. But even on earth he felt as if he was not welcome. The doors opened and Billy walked into the Command Centre.

He found the Aquitian rangers standing in a small group speaking to one another in hushed voices. This immediately stopped when he entered the room.

**__**

*Odd* he thought. "Right. Thanks for helping me out. Cestra has given me a clean bill of health and I have my bag so I guess this is goodbye. I'm ganna to miss you guys." Something was not right he could feel it. Cestro turned around to face him, a blaster in his hand. "Cestro. Ah. I hate to point this out to you buddy. But you do realise that you...ah have a very vicious...um weapon pointed at me." Cestro's cold, malicious smile sent shivers down Billy's spine. Billy felt a sharp pain at the base of his skull. "What the..." His vision grew fuzzy and his knees buckled. Billy slowly sank to the floor.

~*~

Billy found himself starring out at the now reseeding darkness. He was not scared of it, in fact he felt strangely comforted by it. He did not want the tranquillity to leave. He shifted his position slightly only to be greeted by a dull throbbing pain in his head. He moved back but this only made the pain worse. Voices started to intrude on the blissful silence, faint at first but they steadily grew louder. 

"Wow! That's great." 

"I always knew you wanted to explore the galaxy and met new people. I never expected you to fall in love with one of them. Congrates Bro." Billy opened his eyes. What he saw shocked him. To his left there was a group of people, the Aquitians and himself. Billy tried to call to his friends.

"Mmmmmmf!" And realised that not only was he gagged but tied up as well. He found out about the latter when he tried to remove the gag.

"Billy we'll miss you. Aquitar is a long way from here, so you'd better write us. " Billy started to panic, but struggled to no avail. He heard his friends sign off. Cestro turned from the viewing globe and walked towards Billy. He was holding something but Billy could not see what it was. As Cestro moved closer to Billy the object in his hand slowly gained clarity, it was a syringe. Billy's terrified eyes followed Cestro's hand and the needle, which could have been mistaken for a straw. He watched as it came closer. Billy twisted away from Cestro but shackles held him fast. Panic-stricken he thrashed about wildly, in a desperate attempt to avoid the syringe and whatever was in it. 

Strong hands grabbed him and held him still. He felt a sharp pain in his arm as Cestro injected him. Then the pain was gone and Billy watched Cestro hand the syringe to someone. Though he could not make out who it was. A bright light surrounded Cestro and his face started to change. Billy tried to stay awake so that he could see what his friend would become, but anvils pushed his eyes closed and Billy succumbed to an unwelcome sleep. 

~*~

Conscious came slowly and with it came excruciating pain. Billy could have sworn he hurt more now than earlier. He was relieved to find that his bonds had been removed. This did not mean he was going to move. He still hurt too much. He listened for any sound that would tell him whether he was alone or not. Finding this futile Billy opened his eyes. He was in a small, damp, windowless cell. The door was made from a thick wood, which he had never seen before. At the bottom was a small slot, presumably to allow the guards to slip food and water into the room, without coming into contact with the prisoner. Near the top, at about eye level, there was another slot. It had a metal covering, which could slide back and fourth. Billy discovered this when it opened. There was a pair of eyes watching him. He felt bad enough as it was and the unblinking gaze was unnerving. Billy squirmed. The pain caused him to release his breath in a hiss. As a result he heard a soft chuckle and then the door began to open. A figure walked into Billy's line of vision. One look at his captor and he was on his feet. He retreated as far away from her as possible, mouth opening and closing without making a sound. Scorpina couldn't contain her laughter any longer.

"You move very fast for someone who was incapacitated by pain just a few moments ago... Stop that! You look like a goldfish!" Billy's jaw snapped shut. "I hope you have enjoyed your stay so far. We have tried to make it as comfortable as possible." 

"Humph." Billy glared at her. 

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" She asked amused. Billy eventually found his voice. He refused to show her any more fear. Besides he had seen worse. She definitely had nothing on Mondo.

"Sorry but I haven't seen a freak of nature for sometime and when I saw you it was quite a shock." He responded pleasantly. Scorpina's smug expression changed to one of pure rage.

"You will pay for that blue boy!" She leapt across the small gap between them and delivered a nasty blow to Billy's midsection. Billy crumpled to the floor winded. "Not so powerful are you?" Scorpina said vehemently, "where are your friends now?" It was a rhetorical question but Billy answered it anyway.

"They will come." He wheezed.

"He he he." Cough, "Your faith is touching. Unwarranted but touching. Your simple-minded friends think you are in love with Cestra. They will not come, accept it." Sniggering, she left before Billy could retaliate. Billy lay where he had fallen starring at open space. He felt his hope dissolve and vanish. Scorpina was right. The rangers would not come to his rescue. He would have to get out of this by himself.

~*~

According to Billy's calculations he had been in his prison for a week, a week which perferred not to think about, when he had called Scorpina 'a freak of nature' he must have struck a nerve and he had the distinct impression that she was holding a grudge. He had also discovered that she liked to hit stomachs. His stomach in particular and it hurt like hell. He turned his attention to the bottom of the door where his food had just appeared. It smelt horrible, as usual. At lest they had been kind enough to bring him a fork this time. Using the wall for support he struggled to his feet. Repulsed by the hideously dirty fork he turned away from the 'gourmet' meal they had given him. He sat down, back against the wall. He had to escape soon. Unfortunately no opportunity had presented itself. His eyes shifted around the room, until they finally came to rest on the fork. An idea started to form in his mind. The imbeciles had given him a plastic fork. He picked it up and proceeded to break off the prongs until only the middle one remained. He inserted the makeshift pick into the lock and twisted it until he heard the tell-tail clicking noise that meant the door was unlocked. He waited for a couple of minutes to make sure no one was coming and then opened the door. The corridor was deserted. There wasn't even a guard! He saw his duffel bag on a table across the corridor. A quick glance in each direction assured him that no one was coming and he stepped out of the room. He unzipped his bag and fished out his Swiss Army Knife. He heard a noise somewhere down the tunnel. Billy turned in the opposite direction, trying to remain calm. 

He crept along the dim passage. He only had one objective in mind and that was to contact his friends and thereby get help. A sound, ahead of him, told him that someone was coming. He could not turn back so he pressed himself against the wall trying to hide in the shadows. A grinding noise caught his attention. It was very close to him. Suddenly the wall moved and he fell through a doorway. He found himself in a passageway. Billy turned to find that the wall had blocked off his exit, leaving him no other alternative except to follow the passage. He hoped that it would take him to the Command Centre. Sighing he started to make his way down the passage.

The tunnel was wet and had water trickling down the walls. The aroma of wet soil overwhelmed his sense of smell and he could hear the sound of dripping water, which echoed in the silence. Every so often he came upon small patches of soft, velvety moss growing on the wall or a torch set in a strategic place making that area brighter than the rest of the passage and giving the illusion of warmth. But the comforting light would soon dim and fade. Before long he was wet and his hands muddy. A cold breeze blew through the tunnel making him shiver. The reassuring light that had been his only companion had disappeared behind him, leaving him alone in the dark, which seemed to go on forever. The tunnel also seemed to go on for an eternity

It was getting smaller and smaller and before long Billy had to bend his head to avoid hitting it on the roof. Trying desperately to keep his claustrophobia at bay he continued up the tunnel. He carried on bending lower and lower as the space between the floor and ceiling continued to decrease. He had lost track of time, which seemed to have stopped. He was not sure when he changed from crawling to worming his way up the passage or when he caught his first glimpse of daylight. After awhile he found himself slithering out of a cave and into the open air. Billy collapsed on the ground; he was exhausted and out of breath. The effort he had made to suppress his claustrophobia had taken a lot out of him. He had to find a way to the Command Centre. Easier said than done. Billy forced himself to get up. He was on one of Aquitar's few islands and it was starting to rain. Any part of him that had been dry before was now wet. Cursing, he started walking. He hated the rain and at that moment water in general. He found a small overgrown track and started to follow it in a debilitated daze. 

He trudged along the path through thick undergrowth. He started thinking about all of his friends. What were they doing? Had Rocky passed his maths test? What strange monsters had Mondo sent them and were the rangers having any trouble defeating them? Sighing he surveyed the landscape. Under different circumstances he probably would have enjoyed his 'walk'. The ground was damp and littered with decaying leaves. He was surrounded by colossal trees, which kept most of the rain off of him. For this he was grateful. Parasitic plants covered the trees and massive vines hung from their branches reaching down to the ground. The underbrush consisted of millions of plants. Some of the immense ferns could have covered the width of the Power Chamber with one leaf. The forest was alive with colour, everywhere he looked he could see flowers blooming amongst the foliage. He walked a little bit further and came to a clearing. The ground had changed from a bedding of soft, damp leaves to slippery, moss covered rocks. There was a fairly large stream running through the clearing. He could see fish swimming in the crystal clear water. Billy knelt on the bank and drank some of the delicious, cool water from his cupped hands. A tree had fallen across the stream forming a bridge. Like the rocks the tree was covered with moss which, after being probed by curious fingers, revealed to be soft and delicate. A type of fungus that looked similar to mushrooms was also growing on the tree. The Forrest had the same damp-soil smell that had overwhelmed him in the tunnel. Except now it was a faint pleasant aroma. What surprised him about the area was its deathly silence. Except for the sound of the stream there was absolutely nothing and it troubled him. 

He climbed onto the fallen tree trunk and slowly made his way to the other side of the stream. As he jumped down a laser blast hit a tree just in front of him, where his head had been. The blast had cut a perfect hole straight through the tree's trunk. The sight of it almost gave Billy a heart attack. His adrenaline kicked in and he started running. Zigzagging through the trees. In theory a moving target is hard to hit and Billy planned to make it as hard as possible for his pursuers to hit their mark. He glanced over his shoulder to see what he was up against. He was being chased by a strange monster that looked like a tin can that had been squashed between two buses. It was covered by bits of refuge and stunk to high heaven. 

__

*Charming.* It was flanked on either side by miniature Scorpias and strange fish things. Piranhatrons. Of cause Billy did not know this because he had never seen or heard of them before. The monster was shooting at Billy with its hands. Billy turned his head and kept his eyes straight ahead of him. In his opinion he was much to close to the creature. Billy picked up speed. 

The monster, seeing that its target was getting away, shot at Billy's feet. The blast threw him off balance and he stumbled. Fortunately he managed to stay on his feet. The ground in front of him fell away to reveal a deep gorge and his momentum almost propelled him over the edge. He could not see the bottom of the ravine because of a fine mist rising from the bottom. Billy was mesmerised by the way the sun shone through the water droplets forming a rainbow. The sound of blaster fire brought him back to reality. He had to find away across the chasm. He looked around, frantically trying to find a bridge or some other escape route. He noticed a rope bridge several feet away from him. If he could just reach it he would be home free. Billy's pursuers opened fire, causing him to seek shelter.

He dived behind a rock his escape route only meters away. He could not be caught now. How could he help Aquitar if he was captured, unconscious or even worse, dead? He had to get to the bridge unharmed. The laser fire slowed down to the fact that it had almost stopped. Billy glanced at the bridge, it was now or never. He started to run towards his goal. Instantly the blaster fire picked up. For Billy, time seemed to slow. Suddenly he became aware of something. Some instinct, some forgotten power. Something that was so different and more powerful than anything he had experienced as a power ranger. It took him awhile before he recognised it. It was the Force. Billy could feel it everywhere, in his enemies, in the trees. He drew on the living Force. Allowed it to full him. He surrendered himself to it. He felt things he never had before. He knew where the laser blast was before it got there. Blurring with speed, he dived and ducked under, somersaulted over and dodged the lethal blasts. Billy ran onto the bridge. He had made it. 

He had run halfway across it before he noticed that the Piranhatrons barricaded the other side. The Force told him that the monster was baring down on him from behind. His heart sank. To have come this far and fail. The monster was almost on top of him. The Force told him to jump. For some reason, probably desperation, he listened to it. Billy did a flip over the rope railing just as the monster reached him. Somehow he managed to grab onto the bottom of the narrow bridge. Using the momentum from his flip, he brought his feet up, over his head and planted them in the middle of the monsters back. The impact sent the creature flying. Out into the abyss. 

Billy pulled himself back onto the bridge and watched the monster fall until the mist had swallowed it. 

"Yes!" Billy yelled triumphantly punching the air. His victory was short lived. He prised his eyes away from the spot where the monster had disappeared and turned because he had heard a chopping sound off to his left. "What God did I offend?" He asked silently. The Piranhatrons were cutting the ropes that held the bridge to the cliff face. Billy did the only thing he could do. He lay down flat and wrapped the rope, which held the planks together around his hands. A snapping sound told him that the ropes had broken.

"OH SSSSSSHHHHIIIIT!" Echoed throughout the valley as the bridge sailed through the air towards the opposite side of the canyon. Billy braced himself for impact. The collision caused him to lose his grip on the rope. He landed in a heap on a ledge. Billy opened his eyes. He had not even realised that he had closed them. Picking himself of the ground Billy noticed that he was not the only one occupying the ledge. The monster was with him.

It rubbed its hands together gleefully. It was very pleased with itself. It had been considering staying on the ledge in order to avoid its masters' wrath. They would be very happy to have their prisoner returned to them. The monster was very happy to see Billy. Billy on the other hand was mortified, dumbfounded, he starred at the creature. 

"Can't you just die?" He asked mournfully. 

Billy could feel the Force urging him to jump off of the cliff. He took a tentative peek over the edge. Rational thought took over. There was no way in hell he was jumping! He may be desperate but he was not suicidal. He looked back at the monster, then back at the drop and back at the monster. Billy dived of the precipice. He did a somersault so that his feet were pointing downwards. He raised his arms above his head. If he survived this he would never doubt the Force again. 

He fell, for what seem like forever. Eventually he entered the water. It was freezing. He felt himself continuing downwards. He watched, as bubbles rose past his face. He needed air. Billy kicked as hard as he could. He managed to stop his decent. Slowly he started rising. His head finally broke the surface and he gasped for breath. Fighting the current, as it washed him downstream, Billy swam towards the bank.

He heaved himself out of the water, and collapsed. He felt half-drowned. Then again he probably was half drowned. The sun was setting and there was a crisp chill in the night air. Billy felt like an icicle. The Force insisted that he get up and walk back to the waterfall.

"Shut up." He moaned . Billy just wanted to lie where he was and sleep for the next hundred years. But he pulled himself to his feet and staggered in the desired direction. When he reached the waterfall, the Force instructed him to walk behind the massive body of falling water. Once he had done this, the Force told him to climb up the cliff. "Ha! You've got to be kidding me!" He cried eyeing the cliff in disbelief. _*Oh great. Now I'm talking to myself! This is not a good sign! What the hell did they give me?* _Sighing he started his assent. Half way up he found a small crevice. It was just big enough for him to squeeze through. 

Billy wriggled into the opening. He wormed his way down the passage. It was slippery and soon he found himself sliding down a tunnel.

"YOU'RE TRYING TO KILL ME." He screamed at the Force. He shot out of the tunnel and landed with a loud thud on the hard stone floor. He was inside the Command Centre. Relief filled him. Bruised and battered he scrambled to his feet and walked gingerly over to the communications console. 

Billy activated the viewing globe and punched in the Power Chamber's number. 

"Where are you? Please answer. Come on." Billy pleaded with the blank screen. Zordon's image finally appeared on the viewing globe. "Zordon" Billy whispered barely daring to hope that his ordeal was almost over. Then he saw Scorpina standing in the doorway. _"Give me a break!"_ He muttered under his breath. 

"BILLY IS EVERYTHING ALL RIGHT?" Billy turned his attention back to the viewing globe.

"Uh. Yes. Um... I was wondering if you knew... um... where Kim, Aisha, Trini and Zack are? I can't seem to find them." 

"KIMBERLY IS STILL IN FLORIDA AND AS FAR AS OUR SENSES SHOW TRINI AND ZACK ARE IN GENEVA. AISHA IS STILL IN AFRICA. I SHALL CONTACT THEM AND BRING THEM TO THE POWER CHAMBER. WE WILL CONTACT YOU IN 10 MINUTES."

"Right thanks. Over and out." Billy looked back to where Scorpina stood holding a gun to Delphine's head.

"That was very stupid Billy boy. I thought you were supposed to be a genius. Geniuses are supposed to be clever." She sneered. Billy did not bother replying, he was vaguely aware of the piranhatrons who surrounded him. He tapped his fingers on the console, waiting with nervous impatience for Zordon's call. 

He was woken from his stupor when Zordon's image reappeared on the viewing globe and relieved Scorpia's strained nerves from Billy's infuriating tapping. 

"BILLY." He said by way of greeting. The image changed to reveal all of Billy's friends. 

"Wow! Hi guys. How is everything?"

"Great, how are you?"

"What have you been doing?"

"How come it's taken you this long to contact us?" Came a flurry of questions. 

"Whoa! Guys slow down. I can't understand a word you're saying. I'm fine. I've been busy...uh settling in. I haven't had access to the communications systems because of renivations. I think that answers everything that I could make out. Uh. I just wanted to say goodbye to Kim, Aisha, Trini and Zack in person. I can see from here that they're peeved. Sorry I didn't contact you sooner and that you had to hear it seconds hand." He looked up at someone who the rangers could not see. "I'm running out of time. I'm going to have to auction off some of my stuff to pay for this. What? I have to wrap it up. Okay. Well it was nice to see you guys. I'm sorry it was so short. I'll have to call you collect next time. Uh. I'll miss you guys and in Kim's immortal words. Catch ya on the flip side. Bye guys." He watched them fade away and whispered "Miss you, I will." Tears welled in his eyes.

As soon as the picture disappeared, Piranhatrons started to close in on him. There were hundreds of the annoying little creatures. He surveyed the area around him. The Aquitian's morphers were lying on a console just behind the Piranhatrons. If he could just get passed them he would be able to get the morphers to Delphine. But how? He closed his eyes and let the Force guide him. He did a perfect aerial somersault over the heads of the Piranhatrons and landed neatly behind them. In one swift move he grabbed the morphers and hurled them at Delphine.

"Delphine catch! RUN!"

Immediately Piranhatrons swamped him. He fought them as best he could the Force telling him where they were and what they were going to do. He was not going to be recaptured without a fight. Something gave him a glancing blow and pain rocketed through his body. He reached out to steady himself and someone struck his head. The last thing he saw was the floor coming up to greet him.

~*~

Delphine sprinted down one of many corridors. She knew that she had to get to the others before something happened to Billy. What was he doing on Aquitar anyway? She ran into a large chamber filled with prison cells. Delphine headed for the one containing her team mates. She threw their morphers to them. Within seconds they were all morphed and standing next to her. Delphine led the way back to the Command Centre. The rangers stormed the building and were attacked by Scorpina's minions. 

"Where is she?" Desperately, Scorpina searched for Divatox as the room filled with the sounds of battle. She realised that there were no Piranhatrons in the skirmish. The cowardly pirate had deserted her. It was time for her to make an exit. At lest the day had not been a total loss. She had after all done the evil community a great favour by relieving it of one, of the irritating power rangers. It should be easier for the earth to be concurred now that the rangers had lost their brain. With a click of her fingers, Scorpina disappeared taking her lackeys with her.

The rangers were just gaining the upper hand when they found themselves fighting thin air. Delphine wasted no time by joining in the celebrations. Instead she scoured the room looking for their terrestrial friend.

"Billy." There was no reply. "Cestro play the security tapes. They may show us what happened." Cestro stopped dancing with Cestra and started to tinker with the viewing globe. An image started to appear on the screen. What the rangers saw left them speechless. Delphine looked at the other rangers breaking their stunned thoughts. "Contact earth." 

~*~

The rangers arrived in the Power Chamber in a string of multicoloured lights.

"What's wrong Zordon?" Tommy asked as soon as they were all solid. 

"RANGERS. THE AQUITIANS HAVE JUST CONTACTED ME." The rangers looked at their mentor. A deep sense of unease filled the room. 

" What about? Has something happened to Billy?" Adam asked his gaze planted firmly on Zordon. They had all agreed that Billy had been acting very strangely when they had spoken to him earlier. 

"BEHOLD THE VIEWING GLOBE." The rangers turned to look as a picture replaced the snow balls.

~*~

__

Scorpina held up her hand to signal a cease-fire. She smiled when she saw a figure lying on the floor. Well at least they had got one of them.

"Feisty little bugger. I told her we should have kept him drugged. Divatox!" She called. The notorious Space Pirate walked to her side.

"Is he dead?"

"I don't know and if he isn't he soon will be. Get rid of him." Divatox signalled her Piranhatrons to remove the prone figure of William Cranston.

~*~

The rangers looked at each other in shocked silence.

"Zordon is...is he all right?" Zordon watched his distraught charges.

"I DO NOT KNOW RANGERS. THERE IS A VERY SLIM CHANCE THAT HE MAY STILL BE ALIVE AND IN DIVATOX'S HANDS. THE AQUITIANS HAVE INFORMED ME THAT HE IS NOT ON AQUITAR. I WILL SCAN THE AREA TO SEE IF DIVATOX HAS HIM. IF HE IS NOT IN HER CUSTODY THEN WE CAN ONLY ASSUME THE WORST. I WILL ASK MY CONTACTS TO KEEP AN EYE OUT. RANGERS DO NOT GET YOUR HOPES UP. BILLY IS PROBABLY DEAD. DIVATOX IS RUTHLESS."

"Alpha contact Kim and the others. They need to know." Jason said slipping into his leader mode. His eyes swivelled around the room. Adam and Tanya were huddled in a corner trying to comfort each other. Rocky was staring at the floor in shock. Tommy was hugging Kat both of them had tears sliding down their cheeks. Jason wondered how Kim would take the news. First Divatox had turned her and Jason evil and now Divatox had taken her best friend. Kim was going to flip.

"Alpha. Instead of just telling them, I think we should bring them here and tell them in person. We are going to need each other is we are to survive this." Alpha glanced at Zordon. After getting the okay from the old sage he proceeded to teleport Kim, Zack, Trini and Aisha back to the Power Chamber. 

Four streams of white light faded to reveal the former rangers. They were incredibly confused. What now? All around them the rangers were on the floor in sobbing heaps. Jason walked towards them. His eyes were red and his face streaked with tears.

"Guys something's happened to Billy. There is a very strong possibility that he is..." his voice faltered "that h...he is d...d...dead." Jason finally got the words out and fresh tears stung his eyes. Kim's hand flew to her mouth.

"No. I don't believe you. Your lying!" Jason did not trust his voice, he only shook his head. Kim launched herself into his arms sobbing. "No...no...no..." Trini and Zack collapsed in shock. Aisha just stood there in a stunned silence. 

~*~

A young man stepped off of a ship. He was of medium height and had brown hair. Although you couldn't be sure of his hair colour because of all the sand and grime in it, from the ship's hold. His skin was tanned light brown, possibly by a combination of days spent in the sun and the ship's hold. He wore a light grey tunic and loose grey pants, which were stiff with sweet from hours of hard labour. He had knee high, brown boots and was carrying a canvas haversack. On his wrist he bore the sign of slavery, a bracelet. It was about four centimetres wide. It had a strip of a strange, beautiful metal in the middle. The metal looked like a combination between mother of pearl and blue cowrie shell. he wore the bracelet on his left wrist. This signified that he was a slave of high value. However, this was not its only purpose, the bracelet although beautiful allowed the slave traders to control their merchandise. When activated an electric field would be created around the metal causing indescribable pain to course through the victims body. 

He had been told that he was in Mos Eisley a spaceport on the remote planet of Tatooine. This meant nothing to him. He had never heard of the place and if he had he could not remember it. He sighed, he could not remember much of his past. He did however know the entire history of an artist named Picasso and over the past few weeks he had grown to loathe the man. He surveyed the area around him. He was awed by what he saw. The city was huge and there were so many people, in a verity of different species. The houses were half buried in order to protect the inhabitants from the searing heat caused by the planet's twin suns. There was no designated area, for the sole purpose of docking ships. There were docking bays scattered throughout the metropolis. The entire city was one enormous spaceport. He was being taken to a Hutt who was stationed in the next town, which was called Mos Espa. The Hutt was in Mos Eisley on business. 

The young man followed his owner, Teh Almenac, into a crumbling building. The room was dark and once his eyes had adjusted to the dim light he was amazed to find himself in a dingy bar. His master walked over to a lone figure sitting at the bar. 

"Sculie Bakar?" He asked the Hutt. It nodded its head in confirmation. "Here is the slave I promised you. As you can see it is a human boy. He is still young. You will get many years of service out him." The Hutt grunted.

"He looks fit. But I cannot tell in this light we will step out side in a moment. First we shall drink." The Hutt finished a glass of a strange blue liquid and threw a few credits onto the counter.

The slave followed Teh out of the bar, the Hutt was close behind. The slave blinked when he stepped into the bright sunlight. Sculie Bakar gave the young man the once over.

"Hum. He is satisfactory. I will give you fifty thousand credits for him." Teh gave the Hutt an incredulous look.

"What, only fifty thousand credits. But he is a fine specimen and of high value," Teh indicated the bracelet. "He is worth a million at least. If not more." Scalie Bakar laughed

"Teh, you are a fool, but I am a fair Hutt. Why don't we go to the races in Mos Espa. I will have a small bet with you. If my Bantha loses the race then I will pay you, your one million credits. Perhaps more. If I win you will pay me one million and give me the slave." Teh was a greedy man who had expensive tastes and he knew that he could not afford the bet. His business was sinking in a sea of debt and this was the first decent slave he had had in years. If he lost the bet he would have to give Sculie his ship and then work for the rest of his life in order to pay the remainder of his debt. It was too risky.

"You have a deal." The offer was too much for the greedy slave trader to refuse. Sculie shook Teh's outstreached hand. A large diabolical grin spread across Sculie's face as he turned to lead the way to his ship. Teh looked at his possession only to find him starring down a dark ally in a daze. Teh called to him but the boy made no movement. He tuned to see Sculie walking away from him. If he was going to make anything from this slave he had to get a move on. He hit the boy snapping him out of his trance. Teh jogged down the street pulling his slave behind him as he tried to catch up with Sculie. 

The slave followed Teh lost in his own thoughts. He watched the buildings they passed without actually seeing them. They rounded a corner and entered one of the many spaceports that littered the city. The small party boarded Sculie Bakar's transport and were soon winging their way towards Mos Espa. The young slave was with others of his class, in the back of the ship. He was sitting next to a gruff old man who was whistling a cheerful song. The man looked at his tentative, sad companion.

"Hello," His merry voice matched the tune of his whistle and he had a thick Irish accent, "The name's Alconon Skulwurt. What's yours." The bernette's train of thought was broken and he looked at the callused hand offered by his neighbour, startled.

" Um...I don't know. Well Actually I do know But I'm not sure that it's my name and I forget to answer to it. I was given a name when I was on Master Teh's ship..." His nervous babble was interrupted by Alconon. The old man could barely contain the laughter that was fighting to surface.

"Well what is it?" Alconon's young companion gave him a sheepish smile

"Uh. Sorry about that. The name that could be mine is Billy but on Teh's ship they um...they called me Haggis. Though I'm not sure why." Alconon broke out into guffaws.

"Do you know what that means?" He asked when he had calmed down a bit. Billy, wondering why everyone laughed when he told them the nickname he had been given, shook his head mutely. "Good." A fresh bout of laughter erupted from the old man's lips. Alconon was called to go and serve his master and entourage. Billy was left alone for the remainder of the journey.

He starred out of the window as the large ship skimmed across the dunes of the desert wastes of Tatooine towards a large dark spot that loomed on the horizon. Mos Espa was a massive city with huge domes shielding it from the blazing heat. Between the houses was a marketplace and workshops selling a variety of bizarre goods. The city had several immense entertainment arenas. The ship was headed towards a spaceport near the largest one. 

Billy followed Teh and Sculie off of the ship and into the mammoth stadium. It was packed. The place was bursting at the seams. There was an assortment of different creatures standing, sitting and hanging out of the stands. Billy had been impressed by Mos Eisley but this place took his breath away. He was seated next to Sculie Bakar. Slaves on Tatooine were a form of prestige, unlike most parts of the galaxy where they served as cheap labour. Though even here it was rare to see slave and owner seated next to one another. All around him, Billy could hear the excited banter of the betters. 

The stadium suddenly fell silent. The competitors where introduced, causing a roar of approval from the crowd, and then the race was started. Billy was swept away by the excitement and found himself cheering for no-one in particular. A cheer went around the ground as the first, surprisingly fast, Bantha dashed across the finish line. 

Billy looked around the stadium, he was surrounded by an array of different emotions. He had become very observant during his time in Teh Almenac's care. He liked to watch people's behaviour. He had started this hobby out of pure boredom. Now, in the aftermath of the race, he had the perfect opportunity to entertain himself at the betters' expense. His eyes rested on Teh, he had obviously lost. Sculie Bakar on the other hand had a look of smug delight on his face and he rubbed his hands together in satisfaction. The crowd was beginning to disperse and Billy looked forward to going to bed. He had had a long day and now he was exhausted. He turned to look at Teh hoping that the slave trader was ready to go. Much to his surprise he found Teh and Sculie in a heated argument and they appeared to be on the verge of blows. Billy knew he could nothing to stop them because he was only a lowly slave and therefore they would not pay any attention to him. So he tried to tune out their shouts. After all if they killed each other there was the possibility that he would no longer be a slave. Billy knew that doing nothing was not noble or good but what could he do? Try to persuade two thieves who would not listen to him and probably beat him if he spoke. He watched the two with concern. Behind them he saw a large Hutt collecting money from some of the losers. Billy signalled for it to come to him. The Hutt towered over him.

"Uh hi. Um..." he ran his hand through his hair, "My friends don't seem to be able to sort out a little argument. Can you help out?" The Hutt looked at him taking in the bracelet. Billy could see the shock on its face. The Hutt turned from Billy and entered into the fight. Sighing; Billy sat down on a bench watching the last stragglers leave. His tired eyes wandered back to Teh and Sculie who were still arguing. He heard Teh accuse Sculie of cheating yet again. He turned his attention away from them, the Hutt seemed to be doing a good job at keeping them from killing each other. Billy made sure no-one was watching him and took a small locket off of his neck He opened it and stared at the pictures inside. The first one was of a group off nine people and the other one showed many of the same people except four had left and there were two new faces. He could not remember the people smiling out at him, though he knew somewhere in his heart that he knew them and he missed them.

"I'm sorry. I hope you're not worried about me, whoever you are." He mumbled under his breath and a single tear slid down his filthy cheek. He always looked at the locket, it always steeled his will towards finding out who he was and where he came from. For some reason he knew that he had to tell them that he was okay. He quickly put the locket into his pocket, he did not want someone to take it away from him. It was the only thing he had left of his past that and a knife with initials BC inscribed on its red surface. Sculie called to Billy. He had won the argument. 

"You belong to me. He will show to your quarters." He waved his hand to where Alconon was waiting. Billy jogged over to Alconon, who turned to leave the stand. He started to whistle, the same song as the one he had sung on the ship. Alconon's cheerful mood was infectious and Billy soon found himself joining in. By the time they left the actual stadium, Billy was grinning. Alconon led Billy to a rather run-down building, it had loud music and yellow light pouring out of it. 

"Where are we going?" Billy asked, he was a light sleeper and if he was staying at this place he knew he would get no sleep.

"To celebrate, laddie. I won some money on the race." Alconon led the way into the building. "Personally I wish we could have stayed in Mos Espa for the Podraces. This way."

The room they walked into was dimly lit and there were people singing and dancing. Billy and Alconon made their way to an empty table every so often they had to dodge people and step over others who had passed out. The table Alconon chose was fairly clean and in a far corner where they were out of the way of the dancers. 

"What's a Podrace?"

"Very fast high speed race. Much more exciting then watching those Banthas especially when there're Raiders close by. But Master Bakar wanted Banthas cause they're easier to predict. I mean you can tell a temperamental Bantha a mile off but with a pod anything could go wrong from sudden engine failure to the pilot crashing. To many uncertainties..."

"What's a pod?" Alconon looked at Billy with disbelief.

"A pod," he started slowly, "is a very fast racing machine..." 

"A pod tis li'le more then handlebars and an engine. Now a swoop tis somethin' wif a li'le class. Them races at Anchorhead, much be'er than a silly Podrace." Billy turned to look at the woman who had spoken. She was tall and thin with long locks of blue hair framing her face. A face which told a story of a life with little joy and to much alcohol.

"Halloo Mari." 

" 'ello Skulwart, who's this fine li'le creature you 'ave wif you?" Mari held Billy's gaze for a moment before purposely letting her eyes slide over his body. Billy had to fight the urge to squirm.

"Stop it Mari, you making the boy nervous." She smiled and took one last appreciative look at Billy before turning back to Alconon.

"What ya having?"

"Corellian shandy."

"What abou' your pretty li'le frien'?" 

"I'll have the same please."

"Polite li'le thing ain't 'e? You paying this time or tis it on ya tab?"

"I'm paying."

"You'll 'ave to go to the bar then." She gave Billy a hungry look. "You get tired of this guy, come fin' me." Billy was relieved to see her go. 

"Stay here I'll go get the drinks." Billy nodded then settled to watched the mayhem before him. A group of people were twirling round in a circle. One of them let go and went careering across a table knocking everything that was on it to the floor. Billy was glad that Alconon had chosen a table far away from the dance floor. 

"Here you go." Alconon handed Billy a glass of a strange green liquid. Billy watched as Alconon drained his glass, then shrugging he followed suit. The drink was strong and stung his throat causing him to cough violently, much to Alconon's amusement.

"This is horrible!" he gasped in a hoarse vioce.

"Want another one?" Alconon waved to Mari and ordered before Billy could reply. Billy gulped down the second drink, he watched as two Alconons ordered another round. Their drinks came. Billy looked at the glass in front of him. Sometimes there were two then he would blink and one would disappear. 

__

*Weird.* He tried to pick one of the glasses up and watched with amassment as his hand went straight through it. He ran his hand through his hair in confusion. He grabbed at the glass and again he came away with nothing. He decided to try for the other one. He moved in quickly hoping to catch it off guard. Success, he felt his hand close around the elusive drink. He laughed in triumph but no-one had noticed his battle. He stopped laughing and started to concentrate on how he was going to get the green liquid into his mouth. Usually this would not have been a challenge but after the glass fiasco he was not going to chance it. 

Billy was so busy concentrating on which hand was the real one that he did not notice Alconon walk up to the stage. Alconon announced something and then walked back to the table. He pulled Billy out of his seat. Saving him the embarrassment of pouring the drink down his front. Alconon pushed him onto the stage. 

"Karaoke." He whispered

"Huh?"

"Sing"

"Oh." Alconon transferred Billy's clutching hand to the microphone and stepped away. "What?"

"Anything." Billy shrugged and racked his brain for some form of song. 

"Right." He started to sing in a drunken stupor. He was quite good even though the words were indistinguishable. Billy was enjoying himself and did not realise that the crowd was starting to get restless. Someone throw a bottle at him and the bar erupted. He carried on singing oblivious to the chaos in front of him. Alconon waved at him trying to get him to shut up and get off the stage. Billy waved back and walked towards Alconon. He did not notice that the stage was higher than the floor. Billy stumbled but managed to stay on his feet. He smiled at Alconon and passed out. 

Alconon ran to the unconscious teen cutting Mari off. He slung Billy over his shoulder and staggered out of the bar. He walked down the road towards the slave quarters, which were on the outskirts of the city.

Alconon staggered through the empty narrow streets. He saw the slave quarters and breathed a sigh of relief. he was finally going to get rid of his heavy burden. he walked towards the miserable little places. The shacks were built one on top of the other and in a state of disrepair. Some of them were so bad that they could have been mistaken for an archaeological site. These were uninhabited, Skulwurt carried Billy to one of them. With some difficulty Alconon opened the door and carried his friend inside. He dumped Billy on the bed and left.

~*~

Sculie Bakar waited impatiently for his new prize. He had made a few unfavourable deals over the past year and he owed money to a particularly savage person named Liam Ki'tet. Ki'tet had turned many businessmen over to the authorities because of lack of payment and Sculie was not going to be one of them. Teh had been right. Once the slave was clean he would be worth a fortune and with any luck soon Ki'tet would owe him money. 

~*~

Billy woke up and wished that he had not. He groaned. He could not remember being in so much pain. He opened his eyes and was shocked to find himself on a bed. Billy eased himself into a sitting position and saw a note on the table next to him. 

__

Good morning Laddie

The pill is for your head. Good luck with the Hutt. I'm going to give you a piece of advice. Don't tell people your called Haggis. If you do your will have 'hit me' written across your forehead.

Bye A S

Billy pulled himself out of bed and stumbled to the kitchen. He would think about Alconon's letter later. First he wanted coffee and a bath. After his coffee, the pill that Alconon had given him and a long, relaxing bath had eased the pain; Billy felt human. He was glad to be rid of the dirt that had covered him for who knew how long. All he cared about was the fact that he had had a bath and the irritating itch caused by the grime had gone. His cloths had been washed and it felt wonderful to be clean, the fact that his headache had been cured was an added bonus. He was waiting for someone to take him to his new owner. There was a knock. Billy put the locket, that he had been fingering nervously, around his neck. It was time to go.

Billy followed his guide through the busy streets of Mos Espa. He had never seen so many people before in his life. Well at least not as far as he could remember. He kept having to dodge people and he almost walked into several individuals who just suddenly stopped. He found the stalls fascinating and he stopped at several to examine goods that he had no hope of buying. The heat was intense and Billy shuddered to think what it would be like in the unprotected desert. Eventually, they came to a medium sized mansion and Billy's guide led him through the gates and into a fairly large courtyard. The courtyard was square in shape and the floor was paved. The walls surrounding him had the most unexpected covering of ivy and there was a fountain, of all things, in the middle of the square. How Sculie had managed to get the ivy to grow was beyond Billy. 

~*~

Sculie had stopped pacing and had dropped into a chair. He was tapping his fingers impatiently. Ki'tet would be there in a matter of minutes and his key bargaining chip had not arrived yet. The doors opened startling the Hutt out of his thoughts. Soothes walked into the room with a distracted Billy following some distance behind. 

__

*Good and not a moment to soon. Though he looks different somehow.* Sculie mused as Inam, his butler, stood in the doorway and bowed low signalling someone to walk passed him.

An imposing figure stepped into the room. He was wearing a loose cream tunic with loose fitting cream pants. He had knee-high brown boots and he wore a long, dark-brown cloak. He walked with a fast, graceful, stride that oozed confidence and his face was impassive. When he spoke to Sculie his voice was soft and neutral.

"You asked to see me." He said by way of greeting. Sculie was very uneasy. He was not afraid of humans, after all the were tinny, minuscule beings compared to a great Hutt, but this one made him nervous. He could not explain it. Perhaps it was the way he walked, Sculie did not know. He did know, however, that he was nervous and when he spoke his voice betrayed him

"Mr Ki'tet. As you are well aware, I owe you seventy thousand credits. Today I plan to repay my dept. Here is a slave worth over one million credits," he said indicating Billy. "I am going to give him to you in payment of my dept. But he is worth more than I owe you and therefore you will owe me thirty thousand credits." Sculie was very pleased with himself. He was actually going to get money from the man before him and it gave him a thrill. Ki'tet's face remained impartial.

"Mr Bakar," his voice was still neutral and gave no hint of emotion. His eyes, however, danced with amusement. "You are forgetting interest. You owed me seventy thousand when I gave you the loan. Now you owe me one and a half million credits." Sculie fidgeted under Ki'tet's gaze. He knew it had been a good idea to get Teh to pay him as well as give him the slave.

"I am still in the process of gaining the amount owed in interest. I am paying the bulk of what I owe." Ki'tet nodded 

"Until next time." Ki'tet ushered Billy out of the room. Sculie was relieved that he had gone. Then it hit him. 

"His hair." Suclie Bakar's slaves gave him worried looks. Could their master have finally lost his mind? 

~*~

Once they were some distance from Sculie's mansion Ki'tet turned to the young slave who was following him. The boy was distracted. He was looking at everything around him with an awed fascination. He was so distracted that he did not notice that Ki'tet had stopped and he walked right into Ki'tet. When he realised who it was he had bumped into, he quickly averted his gaze and closed his eyes. 

"I apologise, master. I did not mean to walk into you." Billy was expecting a blow and when nothing happened he opened a tentative eye and chanced a quick glance up at Ki'tet. The expression on his face startled Billy. Ki'tet was smiling and he appeared to have no intention of hitting Billy.

"Give me your hand." Ki'tet instructed the nervous boy in front of him. The boy couldn't be more than nineteen years old! _*How could anyone enslave some one so young?*_ Ki'tet thought angrily but then again he had met many slaves who were far younger. Billy slowly lifted his hand. He was going to be punished after all. His new owner was obviously one of those people who enjoyed beating slaves. He closed his eyes and waited. He heard a beep.

"There." Ki'tet looked down at the bracelet, that now lay on the ground, with satisfaction. Billy reopened his eyes and gasped in shock when he saw that he no longer wore the bracelet. He looked up at Ki'tet with uncertainty. "You're free. Go home." Ki'tet started to walk away from the dazed teen when a soft hesitant voice stopped him.

"Wait." He turned back to face the boy. Billy took this as encouragement and brushing a defiant lock of brown hair from his eyes, continued "Thank you for freeing me..." Ki'tet cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"It was my pleasure." Billy watched the retreating figure and jogged after him. 

" Please can I come with you?" He called after the clocked form. Ki'tet sighed and he turned to face the boy.

"Go home." Billy was not going to give up that easily.

"I don't have a home. And if I do I don't remember it. Please let me come with you. Please. I have nowhere else to go!" He pleaded with Ki'tet who looked at the boy's forlorn expression and sighed. He did not like this. He motioned Billy to follow him.

Billy bounced along next to Ki'tet. He was free and the future held countless, untold possibilities. Ki'tet watched the happy teen.

"What's your name?" He could hardly go around calling the kid Hey you or Boy. 

"Billy and you?" This time He was not going to make the mistake of saying Haggis.

"Liam Ki'tet." came the short, curt answer. Billy nodded. The two made their way to Liam's ship, The Nova Beta. It was a magnificent ship. It looked sleek and graceful and was shaped like an arrow head. Liam had parked just outside the city and soon they had left the hubbub of the busy spaceport far behind. 

~*~ 

Billy looked out of the window and watched the desert pass beneath him in a blur. He did not know where they were going but for some reason he trusted Liam. He turned away from the window. Starring at the ground was starting to make him feel queasy so he found solace in watching Liam fly the craft.

"What does that do?" He asked pointing to one of the many buttons on the flight console. Liam looked up from what he was doing.

"That," he replied, "is the engine modulator" Billy nodded digesting the information. Then another screen caught his attention.

"And that?" Liam looked at Billy. The boy was bored, even a droid could tell that. He did however seem truly interested in the mechanics of the ship. 

Liam continued to explain all of the different buttons, screens and other gadgets that could be found on the instrument panel. Finally he decided to put a stop to the barrage of questions. Liam handed the controls over to Billy. 

__

*This,* he thought to himself, _*is going to be interesting.*_ To say Billy was shocked to have the controls shoved into his hands would have been an understatement. He was flabbergasted. 

Billy flew cautiously. The last thing he wanted to do was crash Liam's ship and as a result, they were going at a snails pace. Perhaps slower. Liam was becoming annoyed.

"It is not fragile. You can go faster. I'm not going to kill you if you scratch her." Billy threw him a startled glance. Gently he pushed the joystick forward. A slow smile spread across Billy's features as he gunned the motor. 

The small craft shot across The Jundland Wastes of the Tatooine desert. It flew at breakneck speed and its occupants were having a ball. Liam was impressed with Billy's driving skills.

__

*Maybe bringing him along wasn't such a bad idea.* He mused. Liam took the ship's controls back. Billy lent back in his chair, that was definitely something he wanted to do again. Liam could see their destination appear on the horizon.

"Billy. I have a proposition for you."

"Shoot." 

"I fight for the Rebels..."

"What rebels? What are you fighting against?" Billy asked confused by the amazed look that Liam shot him.

"Where have you been? Living in a hole on Zeltron 5?" Billy started to answer but Liam did not let him speak. "The galaxy has been conquered by a Sith lord, Darth Sidious. By the look on your face I can tell that you have no idea what I am talking about. The Sith are a group of beings that use the dark side of the Force..."

"The What?" Liam rubbed his forehead in frustration. 

"How can you not know what the Force is? No don't answer that. When you were flying just now did you notice something, guiding you, telling you when to take the ship up and then drop it again?" Billy nodded "That was the Force. The Force is something that flows through every living creature. Some people can feel the Force i.e. are Force sensitive like yourself."

"Okay I see."

"Where was I....Galaxy...Ah yes...The Sith have conquered the galaxy and I am a member of the Rebel Alliance which is trying to defeat them and take back the galaxy. Now my proposition is, will you join us." Billy's brow creased in thought. This, he realised was not something to take lightly. He did not know why but he felt that it was the right thing to do. finally he answered.

"Yes." 

Liam smiled "A good thing you agreed otherwise I'd have had to kill you." He joked as he landed Nov Beta on the rebel base's dusty tarmac. He looked at the controls for a moment deep in thought before looking out at the runway where he could see the ground crew running out to greet him. Boy did have a surprise for them. He looked over at his companion who was busy reading the fight manual.

"And to think I let you fly her." He said in mock horror. Billy put the fight manual down and smiled. 

"Hey, we all do something stupid at lest once in our lives. Yours, however, may have hit top spot on the idiocy chats." Liam was glad that his new charge was not so nervous anymore. He led the way down the ships ramp and onto the runway. 

Billy took in his surroundings with a quick glance. They were in the middle of nowhere, literally. Sand dunes formed walls on three sides and on the forth, sand stretched as far as the eye could see. It was compacted to form the runway. The heat was oppressive and Billy could see mirages of desert lakes in the distance. In fact the end of the tarmac looked as if it was under water. He followed Liam to a less than pleased welcoming party with whom Liam entered into a heated debate with the leader. The group shuffled towards the base of one of the sand dunes where Billy was shocked to find a door. 

The room they entered was surprisingly clean. There was not a speck of dust to be seen anywhere. Liam finally ended his debate and walk over to Billy with a triumphant look on his face.

"Welcome to our little desert paradise. This will be your home until the end of the war." Liam said, sounding like an air hostess telling passengers to enjoy their flight, he motioned for Billy to follow him. They walked down a long corridor and after passing several doors Liam stopped and inserted a key into the lock.

"This is my room and you will be sharing with me. Get yourself settled and I will see you in about an hour." With that Liam turned and strode down the corridor, back the way they had come. Billy stepped into the room.

The room was fairly small and had minimal furnishings. There was a window opposite the door set between the only two beds. Next to each bed was a small nightstand with lamp. There was a cupboard standing to the right of the door. To the left was another door and upon further investigation revealed to be a bathroom. Billy dropped his haversack on the floor and headed for the shower. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something on the windowsill, gleaming in the rays of the setting sun. He turned in its direction to find a strange tube. He walked over to it. It looked familiar he could have sworn that he had seen it or something very similar before. The tube was heavy and just bigger than both his hands. It had a small black button on one side. Billy pressed it and a long blue light shot out in front of him. He could feel the energy pulsating in his hands. The laser blade warmed the heavy handle.

The sun set leaving the outside world in an impenetrable darkness as there was no moon. The only light in the room was the soft blue glow emitted by the blade in Billy's hands. He was mesmerised by it. Hypnotised by its shimmering glow. Instinctively he moved the blade through the air. The sound it created was strange. It sounded similar to a generator, but different. Instinctively Billy ran through a series of manoeuvres, which showed he had had some practice with the weapon which felt at home in his hands. He did not know why but he felt comforted by the feel of the 'sabre in his hands. All of his attention was focused on the movements of the blade and then suddenly he stopped. He stopped slicing the imaginary enemies and switched off the lightsaber. Then as if he had been called he turned to face the door. Liam stood watching him.

"Where did you learn how to do that? The lightsaber is the weapon of the Jedi Order. Are you a Jedi?" Liam's voice was neutral but Billy sensed a deep urgency in his new friend's question. 

__

*This is where we hit a grey area.* he thought. "I have no idea." Billy handed the weapon to Liam. "I don't know. I can't remember anything about my Past! *_Except for that bastard Picasso.* _Something Liam had said started to sink into Billy's mind and he looked at Laim curiously. "You said that the lightsaber was the weapon of the Jedi," he stated studying Liam's face, "are you a Jedi?" Liam's face remained expressionless but his eyes were all the answer Billy needed. He turned away from Billy and started walking down the passage.

"Come if you want something to eat. We'll start your training tomorrow." He paused; then looking over his shoulder, "Don't mention the lightsaber to anyone." His voice barely audible. Billy stood in the doorway and stared at the retreating figure for a moment before following. He jogged down the passage after Liam. His curiosity aroused. He had every intention of obeying Liam's request but first he had some questions for his mysterious friend. 

"Liam. Why can't I speak to anyone about this?" Nothing, Billy was about to repeat his question when Liam started to speak.

"I'll tell you later. It's to open here." They walked on in silence.


	2. Shifting Sands

**__**

A/N: Thanks for the feedback. Sorry about leaving you with a cliffy for so long. I've just done some editing. (I'm still editing)

For all the legal stuff: see first chapter.

~&~

****

Shifting Sands  
by  
Devon

~&~

__

"Time's currents are an endless flow of change, drifting like the dunes. We are forever shifting sands." ~ Catherine

~&~

Idly, Billy stirred the strange sludge he had been given. Every so often the spoon would find its way into his mouth. But even then he did not pay much attention to it except to remind himself to chew. His mind was elsewhere, running over all of the possible explanations that Liam could give him. Despite his ignorance in most things, he knew quite a bit about the Jedi. One of his friends on Retaw Kcab, where he had worked before Teh Almanac had stolen him, had been obsessed with the Order.

He shoved the spoon into his mouth. There was nothing on it. Billy looked down at the bowl, which was now empty. 

"Humph." He stared at it and the bowl blurred as his mind raced back to the lightsabers. What could have scared a legendary Jedi into hiding? The sound of a chair scrapping against the floor entered his consciousness but his mind filtered it out as unimportant background noise and he continued to stare at the empty bowl in front of him. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he jumped when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He craned his neck to look up at the cause of his fright only to find Liam's grinning face towering above him. A relieved sigh escaped his lips. 

"What planet where you on?" 

"Huh?"

"You were GONE."

"I was just thinking about somethin'." 

"I could see that. Their showing a holovid next door if you're interested. It's some documentary about the Sandpeople but I think I'm gonna to hit the sack." Liam headed towards the door. Billy hurriedly placed his bowl in the dishwasher and followed him out of the cafeteria, as he did not want to get lost on his first day. 

~&~ 

Liam dropped onto his bed with a contented sigh.

"Well?" Billy asked. His impatience getting the better of him. 

"Well what?" Liam's brow creased feigning ignorance.

"Why can't I speak to anyone about the lightsabers? What are you hiding from?" Liam sighed again except this time it had an air of annoyance to it. He watched Billy, contemplating him. Wondering if he was whom he said he was though a slave belonging to a Hutt would be too devious for the Empire but he could not help being cautious. It was, after all, in his training. An oppressive silence grew between the two as the seconds ticked by. Finally Liam spoke. He spoke slowly choosing his words with great care.

"Why do you want to know about the lightsabers?"

"Lightsabers are the weapon of the Jedi?" It was more a question then a statement and at Liam's nod of conformation Billy continued. "Well...um I... ah I want to know what could scare a Jedi." Billy finished nervously staring at his feet all the while thinking, *_So I can avoid it! _* Liam's intense gaze never left Billy, he reached out with the Force trying to gauge whether he could trust the youth before him but he found that his senses were clouded. 

"How did you become a slave?" He guessed the boy had been a slave all his life and thought it a simple question but Billy's reaction proved him wrong.

Billy blinked he hadn't expected that. He felt as if he had just been hit. The colour ran from his face leaving him pale and sickly looking. His pulse quickened and his breathing became shallow. He rubbed his sweating hands on his pants. He sought Liam's eyes and for a moment he held them with his own before quickly dropping his gaze. Staring intently at the floor, he opened his mouth to explain and found he could not form the words. If he could not relive his short past in his mind how could he face it by speaking it aloud? He had learnt the hard way not trust every compassionate stranger because they were rarely what they seemed. Deep inside, he knew Liam to be different but he couldn't speak the past, yet. A memory surfaced in his mind and waves of fear ran through him causing him to shake involuntarily. Swallowing hard he pushed it away, back to where it had come from and for a second time he attempted to speak.

"I...I can't" he said softly.

"Why not?" Liam demanded defensively unable to keep the suspicion from his voice.

"I...I," Billy fumbled for words, "I don't tru...know you well enough." He looked up at Liam expecting to see the suspicion he had heard earlier. Instead Liam's features were relaxing into a rueful smile. His eyes full of understanding.

"Now you understand my problem." He said simply, then as an afterthought he added. "Get some sleep you have a long day ahead of you." Billy nodded, relieved to be let off the hook. He dropped onto his bunk and snuggled beneath the covers and fell into a much needed dreamless sleep.

~&~

Liam watched the sleeping figure on the other bed. He had much to think about now, most of which revolved around Billy's reaction to his question. Perhaps the Empire had become more devious. 

He waited a few more moments just to be sure that the boy was asleep, then he slipped quietly from the room. He roamed the base's maze of passageways until he found their resident Healer.

"Shay, I need you to do something for me."

~&~

A hand shook Billy's shoulder impatiently. He groaned and pulled his pillow over his head. Liam yanked Billy's blanket back letting cold air come into contact with warm flesh. Billy reached down for the blanket, which had so inconveniently removed itself and put his hand into something ice-cold. He lifted his head from its hiding place to see what it was and found himself looking up at Liam's grinning face. His eyes moved down to his hand to find it in a bucket of ice-water which was in the process of being tipped up, its contains lapping ominously at its rim. A few droplets sloshed out onto the bed covers, forming little balls of water on the cotton before finally seeping through. Billy looked back at Liam, giving him an irritated glare. 

"I had to get you up somehow. Besides you've already slept in for an hour."

"What time is it?" Came the groggy reply

"Six. Now get up we're late."

"Six?" Billy lifted his hand to smother a yawn, "Six, Less an hour?" Suddenly his eyes were wide open at the thought of the offending hour. 

"FIVE!" Liam nodded in a hopeless attempt to conceal his amusement. "FIVE IN THE MORNING?!" Liam nodded again knowing that if he spoke he would not be able to contain the laughter that bubbled up inside him. 

"ARE YOU INSANE?"

"Just...get...up." Liam said amongst stifled laughter. Billy gave Liam a look that could kill before dragging himself off of the bed, still grumbling. 

"Expect me to get up at five in the morning, not even the slave traders were this cruel!" 

A head poked through the open doorway.

"What's going on in here?" Liam turned to face the speaker before replying,

"Morning Asphalt. He's not a morning person." He indicated the back of the figure who was retreating into the bathroom, still grumbling. 

"Ahhhh. Not a morning person? This is going to be interesting!" The figure left and they could hear her laughter echo down the corridors. 

"Billy, I'll meet you in the mess in half an hour and if I find that you've gone back to bed you'll become intimately aquatinted with the contents of that bucket." Liam closed the door and waited until he had turned the corner before almost collapsing with laughter.

~&~

An hour later Billy found himself standing on the cold tarmac waiting impatiently for the sun to rise. He was cold and his hair was still wet because he had foolishly thought that Liam would not carry out his threat. He shivered as the wind had picked up causing sand to cut through the air like knives. Billy's clothes billowed around him. He tried to pull the light tunic closely around his body, in a vain attempt to protect himself from the stinging sand but his hands were numb with cold and he kept losing his grip on the soft fabric. The first light of the false dawn slowly filled the sky and the base's lights were switched off in order to conserve electricity. Billy turned away from the horizon where the sun would appear to focus on the giant hanger door, which had began to open and the ground crew rolled a huge ship from its bowels.

"It's a Bateleur..." Billy jumped even though he recognised the voice, that broke the early morning silence. "...X-wing class, similar to the T-65 starfighter but with a few modifications. We call it Amon, means hidden one, because of the cloaking device." They walked to the large plane and Billy ran his fingers along the side, testing the cool metal surface. "Okay lets go inside."

"I thought you said I was going to start my training?" Billy did not take his eyes away from the sleek craft. Liam chuckled.

"You are but first you have to meet the people who are going to teach you about her. You'll have to know how she works before we let you anywhere near her and we have to find you a call sign, don't want anyone recognising you." Billy nodded and touched the fighter one last time.

"What's your call sign?" Billy turned away from the craft and they walked towards the main buildings. 

"Argon. First things first, you need to go for a flight medical." He showed Billy to a door at the end of a corridor. "You'll find Shay, the base Healer, in the infirmary through there." He pointed at the door.

"What exactly does this entail?" 

"They'll test your eyesight...um do a few scans, give you a couple of injections, maybe take a blood sample..." Liam looked at Billy who had suddenly gone very pale, "what?"

"Did you say injections?"

"Yes"

"Thought so." He said nodding 

*THUD* 

Liam looked down at Billy in shock. The boy had passed out at the thought of a couple of injections and he hadn't even seen the needles yet! Then again, perhaps it was best that he didn't see the needles. 

~&~

Billy walked onto the runway he had finished his medical and was tired of being prodded and probed. Admittedly, he had not been awake for most of it but he was still tired of being prodded and probed. 

He climbed to the top of a pile of scrap metal which may have been a ship at one time, he would have to ask Liam. He scanned the area intently, looking for his afore mentioned friend as he was eager to start his training. He spotted a pair of boots protruding from underneath Nova Beta. 

~&~

Liam glared up at the underside of his ship in frustration. As far as he could see there was nothing wrong with it. Yet he knew differently. Something had to be, how else could he explain the sudden loss of control he had experienced before he had started the landing sequence at Mos Espa. He glanced towards his feet looking for a wrench and came face to face with a pair of brown boots.

"That was fast. What's the verdict? Are you fit for flying?" Billy's jaw dropped, and for a moment he opened and closed his mouth without making a sound then he started spluttering and gesticulating.

"What did...I mean how did..."

"Never mind. Everything all right?" 

"No, that was just..."

"I meant your check up." Liam interrupted sounding a little bit impatient. 

"What?... Oh yeah... everything came up negative, I'm as fit as a fiddle." A strange look came over Billy's face. "Where does that come from anyway?" Liam shrugged.

"First time I've heard it. Stop brooding." Billy raised an indignant eyebrow.

"I do not brood! Feel slightly depressed, maybe even mope but I do not brood." He tried to keep a straight face but he could not stop the smile.

"Whatever you say." Liam slid out from underneath Nova Beta. "It's time to start your training." Billy's smile turned into a grin as he suddenly had visions of whizzing through the air in the incredible craft which was parked a few feet away. He started to walk towards it but Liam grabbed his arm. "Not so fast. First you have to learn then you can fly her."

"Okay."

"Now you're moping." Liam observed

"Humph." Laughing Liam showed Billy to an auditorium where he would learn about flying, engineering, survival and anything else he might need in a two month course.

Billy surveyed the room. It had about six rows of empty seats and each row was raised higher then the one before so that each seat had a good view of the board and screen in front. It had no natural light and would have been quite dark if not for the four high power lights overhead. The room was empty except for one person, a girl. She was about his age, perhaps a few years older. She had long auburn hair which was tied in a braid down her back. She turned to face them. She had high cheek bones and a pale complexion which made her hazel eyes stand out. She smiled. Perhaps the pre-flight training was not going to be so bad after all.

"Billy this is Asphalt. You met her this morning... remember." Liam smirked

"Hi." Billy felt himself turn bright red. Great!

"Hi. So you're the one who was yelling this morning." She exchanged a look with Liam who almost burst out laughing again.

"Asphalt is also new here so you'll be training with her." 

"And I'm Lore." The gruff voice came from behind them. Startled Billy turned to face the speaker. "I'm the teacher." He shook Billy's hand. 

"You can close your mouth kid... I have some things I have to do so I'll meet you in the cafeteria for dinner once you're done."

"Okay, I'll catchya later."

~&~

"...I'll teach you how to survive..." Liam heard through the door as he walked away from the auditorium in search of Shay. He did not have to look for long because Shay was still in the infirmary finishing some paperwork. 

"Shay."

"Yes? I'll be with you in a minute." He hurriedly wrote one last sentence in his illegible scrawl before looking up to see who had spoken. "Liam, I have the blood sample you asked for." He reached into his drawer and pulled out a test tube which he handed to Liam.

"Thank you." Shay nodded and carried on with his paperwork. 

~&~

Liam carefully put a drop of Billy's blood onto a slide and inserted it into a computer. There were a number of things he wanted to check, first on his list was a midi-chlorian count, then he wanted to search the Jedi Temple's old Data base to see if Billy had been taught there. Luckily the computer was multi-functional so he could do both at the same time. The midi-chlorian count came through first and it was quite high which he had expected. 

He checked on the status of his search: 50% complete. Liam tapped his fingers impatiently, willing the computer to hurry up. He watched the percentage increase as the little box in the centre of the screen filled: 52%...53%...tap...tap 56% tap 60% tap tappetty tap tap 61%. He clicked on menu and swivelled the mouse to games where he called up his favourite game of the moment, Trogorian poker: normal poker except the computer cheated. He arranged the desktop so that he could still see the status box while he played. He hit deal.

__

* Sith!* It was not a good hand. He exchanged his hand, even worse. 70%. Threw in two cards. He smirked that was better. 75%. He called, all four of his opponents had full houses some of which were duplicate. _* Double Sith! *_ 90% Not long to go. He asked for another hand and almost cried. He was glad that he was not betting real money. He changed three cards. 100% Beep beep beep. He would have to continue his game another day. He closed the game and acknowledged the completed search. The beeping stopped and a file appeared on the screen.

Liam skimmed through the information before him: William...born...unusually strong in force...care of Jedi Master Yoda. He raised an eyebrow. Master Yoda had looked after Billy until he had been old enough to live in the creche, that was odd. He continued to read. Good student...apt at the lightsaber. Doubt whether to continue his training. Liam rubbed his chin lost in concentration. Controlled by emotions...fear, anger. Kidnapped at age twelve by Sith. Interesting. Ship crashed on remote planet called earth. Sith was killed in the accident. Decided to leave William on earth were he could do no harm if he fell to the dark side. 

Liam reread the last section. Like most things it answered a few questions but created far more than it answered. Liam sighed, he still had a lot to think about. 

~&~

Billy yawned, he could not help it. After all, he had had a long day especially for someone who usually only got up at around eight. He was still appalled at the idea of getting up at five. He blinked and tried to refocus his attention on what Lore was saying but it just wasn't going in no matter how hard he tried to concentrate. 

"Billy! BILLY." He jumped at the sudden sound of his name.

"What?"

"You're not listening! This is important! It could save your life someday." He sounded irked

"I'm sorry. I'm trying, I really am." Lore shook his head and looked at his watch.

"I think we can call it a day. Read over the last bit again and I'll quiz you on it tomorrow. It's that important."

"I'm really sorry..."

"Just get a good night's rest so you can stay awake tomorrow."

"Thanks." Billy left the auditorium he had half an hour to kill before he had to meet Liam so he headed for the hungers. He would spend the time with the current love of his life, Amon.

~&~

Billy walked into the cafeteria where Liam had said he would meet him once his training had finished. He moved his gaze from table to table but Liam was not sitting at any of them. He spotted Asphalt sitting at a table a few feet away. Her hair was loose now and it cascaded past her shoulders in an auburn wave. For a moment every coherent thought left him. They returned hesitantly a few moments later when he realised he was staring but no one seemed to have noticed and he walked towards her table before anyone did. 

"Hey Asphalt. Um... have you seen Liam anywhere?"

"I think I saw him in the computer room playing Trogorian poker or something." 

"Thanks." Billy started towards the nearest door.

"Billy."

"Huh?"

"It's that way." Asphalt pointed in the other direction smiling. Billy blushed.

"Right. Thanks." He turned and walked straight into a man who was walking behind him. Plates of food flew everywhere but mostly over him. 

"Watch were you're going." was followed by a torrent of swear words ranging for English to Huttese.

"S s sorry." Billy managed to stutter as he stooped to help clean up the mess and accidentally cracked his head against that of the man. This was followed by even more choice words and his hand was waved away as the man reached for the last plate. The man stomped off leaving Billy standing there, the whole room had erupted with laughter. He felt blood rush up to his cheeks and he darted for the door Asphalt had pointed at. 

Once through the door he recognised the corridor as the one that lead to his quarters. He made a quick decision to shower before continuing his search for Liam.

"What happened to you?" Liam stepped out of a door on Billy's right, sporting a massive grin.

"I...uh.. had a...uh small accident in the cafeteria."

"I see. I don't suppose you want to go back there then?" 

"Not really no." 

"Nor would I. Tell you what why don't you go and get cleaned up and I'll fetch something to eat and bring it to the room." Liam said taking pity on the boy.

"Thank you." Liam just smiled shaking his head. 

~&~

Liam walked towards his and Billy's quarters carrying two take-away containers of curry and a bottle of a bluish, black liquid. Bubbles formed at the bottle's neck with every step. 

He stopped outside their room and quickly scanned the halls before using the Force to open the door. Once inside he nudged the door closed with his foot and gave it an extra tap just to make sure it was closed properly. 

"Grubs up." He called to the back of the person lying on one of the beds...no reply. Liam walked across the room to investigate. The edges of his mouth lifted in a small smile. Billy was asleep. His bare feet were hanging off of the bottom of the bed, his one hand was lying above his head and the other was resting lightly on the floor. Billy's face was turned towards the wall, his mouth open slightly to let out his soft snores. It was obvious that the boy had little experience with desert nights. Billy was only wearing a pair of white boxers and sleeveless vest. Liam reached across his sleeping friend and pulled the ruffled blankets over Billy so that he would not freeze. He shook his head he would have to speak to Billy about making his bed. 

Liam went back to where he had left the curry and pressed a button just next to the table. A rectangular portion of the wall slide up to reveal a kitchen. He stepped into the room and put Billy's dinner in the fridge before grabbing a glass from a cupboard and a fork from a drawer then he sat down at the table to eat his curry. 

~&~

After his first lesson Billy found that the days seemed to blur into weeks and the weeks into one long endless pattern. Each morning started with the same unpleasant wake up call which was followed by him scampering through the halls late for his training. There had been no more unfortunate incidents in the cafeteria because Billy had discovered that he was quite a good cook and that their kitchen was well stocked. At the moment he sat at the kitchen table, peeling potatoes. He casually glanced at the calendar across from him and gaped. He had been on the base, foxhole, for a day short of one and a half months. Billy continued to look at the calendar as he started chopping the potatoes. He felt a sharp pain in his little finger and looked down to see what had happened. The knife blade and potato he had been chopping were covered in blood. He had sliced his finger open while marvelling at how time seemed to fly. He ran from the kitchen to the refresher where Liam kept a first aid kit. He turned on the tap and thrust his finger under the running water. He cried out in pain as the cold water came into contact with the open wound. Quickly he searched through the first aid kit for some anti-septic cream and a plaster. Once he had found the items in question he pulled his finger out of the water and dried it on a piece of toilet paper. He rubbed the cream into the wound and then pressed the plaster over the top. Once satisfied that he had done a good job he slowly put the kit back and headed for the door. A horrible screeching noise filled the room and Billy saw smoke billowing out of the kitchen.

He rushed through the kitchen door to find flames covering the stove. He grabbed the bowl of water he had been using to wash his peeled potatoes and threw it over the stove. The flames disappeared in an impressive display of smoke and noise. 

Liam burst into the kitchen with a fire hydrant. He stopped at the door and spoke into a portable radio and the alarm stopped. 

"What happened?"

"I cut my finger," Billy held up his pinkie as proof, "and forgot to turn off the stove when I went to bandage it." Liam laughed and Billy sighed this was not going to help his reputation.

~&~

Billy sprinted down the hallway and away from his quarters. He was late...again because he had overslept...again. He saw the sign a moment too late and slipped on the wet floor. He skidded around the corner, using every skill he possessed to prevent himself from falling over. He cursed silently when he saw that the path ahead was blocked. Typical! As soon as he was in a hurry, EVERYONE decided to use the fastest route to his classroom! 

He elbowed his way past several people, muttering apologies as he went. He was almost at the front of the crowd when he came up behind a large burly fellow whom he dare not touch. The crowd shuffled forward slowly as everyone struggled to move on in rows of three when the passage was built for only two commuters at a time. Billy struggled to move to the front. Today was his one and a half month anniversary of being a member of the rebels and he had only managed to get to class on time once, that he remembered. Lore was going to have his head he was sure of it. He slipped in front of the big man ahead of him one more person and he was in the clear. He squeezed through a gap and ran checking his chrono at the same time, quarter past seven. He was very late. Rounding the corner he bumped into someone.

"Jeeze kid where're you going?" 

"I'm late for class." Lore threw his head back laughing.

"What?"

"It's your day off." He laughed. 

"I forgot." Billy said sheepishly. Lore walked off still laughing and Billy knew that this was going to be all over the base. He had already earned a reputation as a klutz and there were bets on how long he would survive as a pilot. The worst part was that there were ten to one odds he would not live past his first battle. He turned away from where Lore had disappeared. He had the hole day to himself and nothing to do. He grinned. It was time to go and pester Amon's mechanics. Again. 

~&~

An alarm sounded just as Billy entered Amon's hanger and someone threw a flight suit at him. He caught it and looked up at the mechanic expectedly.

"Put it on!"

"But I'm not..."

"Have you flown before?"

"Yes but..."

"We need all the pilots we have. We need you to fly." Billy still looked a bit sceptical. "Our freedom depends on it." Billy nodded and looking a bit dazed he climbed into the orange suit. Time seemed to slow as he watched a droid being lifted into Amon and his heart started racing. He continued to watch the ship after the droid was in its place.

"Droid can't fly by itself." The mechanic muttered as he ushered Billy up the ladder. Billy wriggled about trying to find a comfortable seat. Hands reached over his shoulders and proceeded to fasten all the various harnesses that would keep him in the chair. He just managed to put his helmet on before Amon's canopy closed then he taxied onto the runway and followed the rest of the fleet into the air. 

Billy focused on the controls in front of him. He closed his eyes trying to picture the flight simulator he had done the day before. He looked at the controls again and did a mental check list of what he knew and what he would have to figure out later. He was in for a rough ride. Billy took a deep breath trying to calm himself but his heart was still racing at a hundred miles an hour. 

He looked out of the canopy. His eyes were assaulted by a multitude of stars that left him gapping. He had never had much interest in his surroundings when travelling but now he wished he had paid more attention. Then again were there any windows in a ships hold? 

"Red five this is green leader. Come in. Over." There was a loud thud as Billy's head collided with the canopy. A voice crackled over the radio as red five signed in. This was followed by various call signs being flung across the air.

"I'm here." Billy called into his mic. The radio crackled for a long while before a calm familiar voice echoed across the airways.

"Where's here?" 

"In Amon."

"How?"

"The ground crew told me you needed another pilot and..."

"I sense a miscommunication somewhere." 

'So we've got ourselves a rookie flying with us today?" A new voice entered the conversation. 

*_ Rookie? Their calling me Rookie!_ * Billy felt insulted even though he was a rookie.

"Rookie this is Green Leader. Welcome aboard. Over" 

"Thanks Green Leader. Over." He was glad that he sounded more confident then he felt. 

"Good luck kid and may the Force be with you. Over 'n out." 

They flew on in silence as they made their way into a swarm of imperial fighters. A shout came over of Billy's radio, coursing his head to meet the canopy for a second time. He was going to have a migraine by the time he landed. If he landed.

"Rookie. Bogies seven o'clock" Billy turned to see where they were. 

"Sith!" Eight or nine fighters were flying towards him. They had obviously heard that he was a rookie and were looking for an easy kill. 

"Okay, calm down. It's not as bad as you think. You've flown ships before, you're a pretty good pilot and they don't know what you can do. They'll probably underestimate your skills. You will survive this..." He looked over his shoulder and then quickly returned his gaze to the empty space in front of him. "Sith! Who am I kidding? I've never piloted anything this big or fast before! I'm gonna die!" He dodged the first round of laser fire and looked back at his opponents.

"Uuuugly! I can't let them be the last thing I see before I die." Red laser blasts shot from the ship closest to him. Billy dodged them, racking his brain for one of the manoeuvres Lore had shown him on the flight simulator. His mind was blank and his panic rose along with his already fast pulse rate. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and counted to ten. 

"Damn! They're still there." He said when he reopened his eyes. Suddenly, as if the realisation that he was not hallucinating kicked in, all of his training came back. He pulled the throttle backwards decreasing his speed. Then once Amon's tail was almost touching the other fighters he braked coursing them to fly right past him. He pulled the trigger and a stream of green light shot out in front of him which raced wildly across the sky before he managed to correct his aim. Then one of his adversaries burst into flames. One of the others tried to dodge the lethal fire and flew into another imperial ship; both craft exploded. 

"Thank you beginners luck!" He punched the air in jubilation. "Ow!" He had forgotten about the canopy. Billy shook his sore hand but hurriedly put it back on the joystick as fire zoomed past his head. He looked over his shoulder, and sighed in relief. There was only one ship behind him. He tried the braking trick again to see if he could fool his pursuer. Much to his disappointment the ship stayed with him. Billy tried to flip over the top of the plane in a half-circle but he could not shake it. Blaster shots jolted the ship as they broke through his reflector shields and embedded themselves in Amon's hull. A calm emotionless voice filled the cockpit.

"Shields 70%." In desperation, Billy headed for the atmosphere of one of Tatooine's moons. It had a rocky surface and the ground was littered with deep canyons. It was a dangerous place to fly and Billy cursed his stupidity at agreeing to join the battle in the first place. 

He flew through the grey terrain towards a large ominous gorge. Within seconds he had entered the canyon. The walls passed by him in a blur and he had to dodge large rocks which jutted out into the valley. He pushed the throttle forward increasing his speed, until he flew so fast that could not think about his next move. He could only act. Billy's opponent fired a couple of blasts after him before pulling up just before the entrance to the canyon thinking that it would do his job for him. 

Billy pushed the joystick forwards, coursing Amon's nose to point downwards. Laser fire flew above the cockpit striking the wall next to him. Rocks, loosened by the blast, tumbled down into the chasm. The fighter barely managed to avoid the falling missiles. Suddenly the walls closed overhead so that the only way out was a thin gap ahead of him. Billy judged that Amon was just small enough to fit through the gap. 

Amon raced towards the small opening in the canyon wall. All of Billy's attention was focused on surviving. He prayed that the opening was not a dead end. If it was it would give a whole new meaning to the phrase. 

He entered the gap. He went down towards the base of the cavern to avoid the large ragged rocks that protruded from the walls above. As he reached the bottom he had to fly up again as another large rock blocked his path. He found himself flying through a thin gap between two rocks. For a moment his life flashed before his eyes and then abruptly the passage stopped and Amon shot out into open air, high above the next section of the ravine. Grinning with relief Billy wiped sweat off his brow as headed back towards open space. 

He catapulted out of the moon's atmosphere and was greeted with a shock. Instead of the fierce battle he had expected, the sky was empty. Numbly he reached for his radio. 

"Foxhole this is Rookie. Where is everyone? Over."

"Rookie this Foxhole. Glad to hear from you kid. Everyone's home. Over"

"I'll see you in a minute. Over and out." He headed towards Tatooine's atmosphere. The battle was over, the adrenaline was starting to wear off and he was going into shock. 

*_I just killed someone. It was in self defence. He'd probably killed many people. I felt him die! Why don't I feel anything? Oh God what's wrong with me?_* Billy starred out of the canopy. deeply troubled. 

~&~

__

Billy found himself in a strange room; he was lying on a table with a bright light over head. The table felt cold to his bare back. He heard voices of the invisible people who surrounded him. He felt a sense of panic rise inside him. He forced his eyes open despite the glare from the light. A flash caught his eye and a needle came into view; he was transfixed by the syringe. He watched as the hand holding it gently pushed the plunger up causing tiny droplets to appear at the needle's tip. The hand brought it towards him in slow motion. His panic consumed him and he tried to get away; to run from the pain he knew was to follow. The needle moved closer and closer. Laughter echoed in his ears as he struggled helplessly against the shackles which held him in place. A rough hand gripped his arm tightly, stopping its movement. Billy felt the cold steel of the needle enter his arm and a chill ran down his spine and he gritted his teeth waiting in petrified anticipation for the pain. He was not disappointed, the liquid flowed through his veins followed by excruciating pain which ripped a scream from his throat and left his breathing ragged but he knew that it was far from over. 

"An unfortunate side affect." A voice said unsympathetically, in fact it sounded quite pleased. Billy's struggles started to slow until they eventually stopped. Once the injection had taken full effect, paralysing him, the people around him began their work. Billy's terrified eyes darted from face to face and then they moved to the expected scalpel as it moved through the air, its sharp blade gleaming in the light. 

~&~

Billy woke. He was breathing heavily and his sheets were drenched in sweet. He looked down at his hand and moved a finger. Relief flooded him, it was just a dream. There was no bright light, no scalpel and no people. He was safe. Slowly his breathing returned to normal and he looked across the room to where Liam was still sleeping peacefully. Billy sighed.

"That is why I can't answer you're question." He whispered to the sleeping form on the other bed. 

~&~

Billy walked onto the runway and passed the pile of scrap metal for the umpteenth time. He still meant to ask Liam about it. He had been allowed to sleep in after the battle the day before. It gave him a much needed rest which he was grateful for. He yawned and smothered it with one hand. He noticed Nova Beta standing on the tarmac and looked around for his friend. He saw his Liam talking to Asphalt and some of the ground staff. 

"Hi. Where're you going?"

"Mos Espa." 

"Can I come?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea. I have to go and see Skulie Bakar..." 

"Oh."

"Skulie probably still thinks of him as a slave right?" Liam nodded. "Well then he probably won't look at him twice as long as he keeps his wrists covered." Asphalt pointed out.

"Long sleeves in this weather?" 

"I don't mind."

"You will when we get to Mos Espa."

"Please." 

"Go on Argon." Both gave him pleading looks and Liam rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated sigh.

"Fine get in. There's a spare tunic inside." Billy bounded up the ramp after Liam who dug around in a compartment just to the right of the door. He pulled out a rather crumpled long sleeved tunic and tossed it at Billy.

"Thanks." 

"Don't mention it. Don't put it on yet wait until we get to Mos Espa otherwise you'll cook" 

~&~

Skulie Bakar paced back and forth wondering what was he going to do. Teh Almenac had cheated him. The slave trader had left the planet less than an hour after he had lost the bet taking everything with him. How was he going to pay Liam? Sculie scowled as he thought of Teh's betrayal and ripped the head off of his lunch and chewed vigorously. Eating always made him feel slightly better. It seemed to have a therapeutic effect on him. He needed to clear his head so that he could find a way to stall the human. He sat down heavily with a loud thump when he heard the knock signalling Liam's arrival. The doors opened and Soothes stepped into the room bowing low in respect as two figures walked past him. 

"Liam." Sculie greeted the man through gritted teeth. He felt outraged that Liam should bring the slave. It rubbed salt into old wounds.

"Sculie. Do you have the six thousand credits?" Sculie smiled typical of Liam, blunt and to the point. He wished that the man was like other traders who waffled away time as they negotiated while eating his food. 

"I have four thousand. Unfortunately the man who owes me the rest fled the planet." He never took his eyes off of the slave.

"I see. Sculie, next time I will have to tell the authorities about your lack of co-operation." Liam now had the Hutt's full attention. Sculie was flabbergasted.

"LACK OF CO-OPERATION?" He roared. "I'VE BEEN DOING EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO GET YOU THE MONEY."

"Then where is it?" Sculie's jaw slackened and fell open as he starred incredulously at Liam.

"I already told you what happened to the money! I've only managed to track it now. It should take me another three weeks at least before I can get it back." 

"Three weeks?"

"Yes." 

"Three weeks, until then" Liam bowed his head and turned to leave the slave following closely behind him. 

Sculie watched their retreating figures. Where was the money? Perhaps he had overrated the human's intelligence. A plan started to form in Sculie's mind. Maybe he could fool the stupid creature.

~&~

A streak shot across the desert only a few feet above it's surface. Liam followed the contours of the desert floor rising over one side of the dunes and down the other. He looked at the instrument panel and was surprised to find that they only had half a tank of fuel, just enough to get them home. Someone had been "borrowing" fuel. 

"Damn it's hot!" Billy stated matter of factually rolling up the sleeves of his tunic.

"I told you, you would regret wearing long-sleeves."

"So, you're not above an I told you so?"

"Of course not." Liam paused grinning mischievously. "I told you so." His grin soon left his face as the ground in front of them erupted in a fountain of sand. Liam swerved to miss it and another shot caused sand behind them to travel skyward. Billy lent forward and grabbed the radio.

"Base this is....Nova Beta we're under attack!"

"Nova, this is Foxhole. What is your position? Over."

"Where are we?"

"We're over the Julad wastes, forty degrees east, sixty south."

"Gotcha. Foxhole we're over the Juland wastes forty degrees east, sixty degrees south. Over." There was a loud explosion as a blast broke through the ships shields.

"We're sending help. ETA in about ten minutes. Over." 

"Roger. Over and out." Billy's voice sounded more then a little worried.

"How long?"

"Ten minutes." Liam pulled back on the joystick letting a blast pass beneath them.

"I don't think we have ten minutes." Liam looked over his shoulder as he spoke. Four imperial cruisers were chasing them. One of them launched something from its right wing. 

"It's some kind of missile." Billy pointed at the image on the radar screen. Liam nodded and swerved to let it pass by. The missile continued to follow them. The distance between them closing all the time. Liam pulled back on the joystick causing Nova Beta to rise higher into the air. The missile changed its direction again to follow them. 

"Heat seeker!" He muttered his voice filled with a mixture of annoyance and frustration. 

"Bad?"

"Very." Liam pushed down on the ship's controls and the ground rushed towards them. "We're not dead yet. Our only chance is if we can confuse our signature with the ground. Hopefully the heat from the surface of the dunes will scramble its senses and Force willing, it should miss us." He explained why he was flying into the ground to ease his frightened companion. 

Billy nodded, taking in what Liam had just said and trying to force himself to see it as logical, as the only way they could survive but the blur of the oncoming ground and all the "hopefully"'s seemed to circumnavigate the logic centre of his brain and head straight for unbridled fear. 

He clutched the seat, digging his nails into the cushion, his knuckles turning white. The ground was still coming towards him at an alarming rate. He stole a glance at Liam. His friend was still leaning hard on the controls, making the craft go down. Billy gulped. It took every ounce of will power he possessed to stop himself from wrestling the controls from Liam's grasp and pulling the plane out of its dive. Instead he closed his eyes and repeated a frantic mantra silently to himself over and over again.

__

* He knows what he's doing. We're not going to die.* Suddenly he felt the sensation of his stomach being left behind somewhere near the planet's surface because Liam had pulled sharply out of the dive. The missile hit the dunes just underneath them. 

"I told you!" Liam cried in victory. 

"That was too close." Billy opened his eyes sighing in relief. He slowly unfurled his fingers and flexed them trying to get the blood to flow back to their tips. He was glad that he had left his stomach back on the dunes because he felt certain that had it still been with him he most probably would have lost his lunch. 

Their relief was short lived. Blaster bolts rocketed the ship throwing them against the controls. Liam's head struck the dashboard and he felt something warm trickle down the side of his face. Somewhat dazed he moved his hand to his face to where he could feel the stream. He pulled it away again and shakily positioned it in front of his eyes. Red. Slowly his hand started to move further and further away from him and he tried desperately to hold onto his consciousness but the world continued to recede. Soon the darkness engulfed him and he knew nothing more. 

~&~

Billy looked at Liam, horrified by his friend's still figure. His hands acted without thought and he grabbed the joystick in front of the co-pilot's seat and tried to pull the craft up again but the dead weight of his friend made the task impossible. They had been flying so close to the ground already and were running out of time. 

A huge jolt ran throw the ship and the sound of breaking glass filled it as the windscreen shattered. The impact sent Billy flying forward in a shower of glass. He landed face down a few feet from the craft and immediately flung his arms up to protect his head from the glass that was raining down around him. 

Once he was certain that it was safe, he climbed gingerly to his feet then waited for the world to stop moving before he walked, swaying slightly, towards the ship. He found Liam still in the craft slumped over the consoles and strapped to the seat by harnesses that Billy had forgotten to use. He reached across the broken glass into the cockpit and pressed his index and middle fingers against Liam's neck looking for any sign of life. He felt the slow thump, thump of his friends heart beat and released the breath that he had not realised he had been holding.

"Get up. Put your hands in the air." A robotic voice barked behind him. Slowly Billy rose to his feet and lifted his hands above his head. "Turn around slowly." He moved his feet in a small circle as he slowly obeyed the command. He found himself looking down the barrels of at least sixteen blasters. The robot who had spoken signalled to two of its counterparts and Billy guessed that it was the leader. The two robotic creatures moved towards him and he felt all hope dissolve when they took the blaster that had been strapped to his thigh. 

"What about that one." The one with Billy's blaster asked its leader indicating towards Liam.

"Scan him."

"He's dead." Billy held his breath hoping that his metallic captors would believe him. The leader looked at him for a moment before nodding. Billy felt the cold nose of a blaster press into his back and he was pushed to one of the imperial ships, which had landed close by. 


	3. Arctic Fire

**__**

A/N: Hiya. Sorry for the long wait. I'll try and post the next chapter as soon as possible. I've lost my beta's so if you see any major plot holes, spelling mistakes etc. let me know. There is a new scene added to the first chapter at the bar scene. I had to fix a few continuity errors and the bar scene seemed to need something. Right that's enough rambling from me. 

See first chapter for legal stuff.

Arctic Fire  
by  
Devon

~&~

__

"Under the Arctic Fire  
Over the seas of silence  
Hauling on frozen ropes  
For all my days remaining." ~ Sting  


~&~

Liam groaned. The taste blood filled his mouth and he ran his tongue around the inside glad to find that all his teeth were still there. He took a deep calming breath. 

"Son of a Sith!" He swore as pain spread its fingers across his chest "No more deep breaths." He hoped that his ribs were only bruised and not broken. 

"Take him to the ship." The command flowed into his consciousness, joining the sluggish stream of his thoughts and brought more confusion if that were at all possible. He started to lift himself off of Nova Beta's front console -for a better view- and inhaled sharply as needles of pain shot all over his protesting body. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain and nausea to dissipate. Gritting his teeth and barely daring to breathe, he pushed himself up away from the console all the while fighting back the dark realms of unconsciousness which threatened to overwhelm him - again- Liam opened his eyes. The brightness of the Tatooine suns hurt his eyes and he rapidly blinked away the spots the light had caused. He looked around to see who had spoken but he could not see anyone. He began to wonder if he had not been hallucinating. Could excessive pressure applied to the head cause someone to hear things? He did not know but he was sure now that he must have been imagining the voice. He shook his head to clear it and the pain that engulfed him almost made him blackout again. Liam closed his eyes and used the Force to probe his injuries -* Sith * he swore silently - his ribs were broken and he did indeed a have a server concussion. He hated concussions. He hated pain in general but he remembered the teachings of his old master. Pain was a signal from body telling him that he was hurt. He thanked his body for the signal and released the pain into the Force as he had been taught to do. With the pain now dulled, Liam half crawled, half wormed his way gingerly over the console to Nova's broken viewpoint. The ship was slopped downwards to where its nose disappeared into the sand, Liam wriggled through the open viewpoint and found himself sliding down the sleek surface of Nova's nose. The sand was soft but the landing was still harder then Liam would have liked. Using the ship for support he struggled into a standing position. Panting from his exertions Liam once again surveyed the area. To the right of the ship he noticed an imperial cruiser with a small party heading towards it and no doubt the source of the voice he had heard. The party consisted of several robotic creatures and one humanoid. 

"Billy." Liam breathed and the events preceding the crash returned with vengeance. Liam felt a pang of regret that he did not have his lightsaber with him as it would have made rescuing his friend much easier. Gathering the Force around him, Liam lifted his hand. 

~&~

Billy walked among his guards trying to think of away to escape. He knew he would have to do something soon because once he was on the ship escape would be virtually impossible. He stumbled and the robot behind him pushed him forward with the muzzle of its blaster causing him to lose his footing completely. The robot reached down to drag the boy to his feet. Just before its fingers closed round the material of Billy's tunic it flew through the air and landed in a disjointed, smouldering heap some ten meters from Billy. Billy starred at the former robot and did what most sentient beings in the universe would do. He gawked. He looked from the robot to where whatever it was that had thrown the droid had come from. He saw Liam standing a few feet in front of Nova Beta. Liam made a small movement with his hand and more droids took flight. Billy's jaw dropped lower. The mysteries surrounding his friend seemed to multiply with each passing moment. 

"BILLY!! DUCK!" Billy turned his attention away from the airborne droids and stared blankly at Liam. His mind was still trying to get round the flying droids and was taking its time processing any new information. Suddenly his side felt as if it were on fire and he could smell the putrid stench of burnt skin. He looked down at his side to find a blacked hole in his tunic. He moved his hand to touch the scorched cloth and his hand came away covered in blood. He looked up at Liam who skidded to a halt at his side.

"I've been shot." Liam nodded -worried- his friend was obviously in shock. "Not so bad, thought it would hurt more." Liam's quick reflexes allowed him to catch Billy but his strength gave out and slowly he slipped to his knees. 

~&~

Billy was floating in a world of black. So silent. No noise. Was he dead? He was not sure. There was no pain. There had been pain before. He must be dead but why was it so black? So quiet? Was he in hell? Had he done something wrong? The battle! but that had been self defence? 

The silence was broken by voices. It sounded as if someone was speaking through a gag. 

"Ummph graaaff gruptup froook." 

He felt movement but still no pain. The voices became clearer 

"About twenty metres from Argon's ship. They were both unconscious. Will they be okay?" The voice had a lyrical feminine quality but Billy could not place it. 

"I'll have to run scans before we can be certain."

"How long before you'll know?" 

"Two hours for the basics but we'll only know for sure once they wake up."

"What..." 

"Both their injures are extensive and he's been shot on top of the crash" 

"You can fix that. Right?" 

"I'm sorry but you can't go in there." A protocol droid? He must definitely be in hell.

"Ugallmph logrraaag mumph..." Slowly the voices retreated and Billy was once again lost in his dark oblivion. 

~&~

Billy's eyelids parted and he greeted the world with a semi clear mind. A noise to his side caused him to turn his head away from the ceiling. A figure, he recognised as Asphalt, sat slumped in the chair next to his bed she was obviously asleep and snoring softly. He heard the sound again. It was a soft moaning sound. Billy turned his attention to the bed on Asphalt's other side. There was a lump which seemed to be the source of the noise. The lump moved and a hand fought its way out from under the blankets. Once the hand was free it was followed by an arm and then another arm. They pushed the blankets down. Mushed raven-black hair and a face appeared.

"Liam?" Billy whispered

"Mwhaammmt?"

"Where are we?" 

"Huh?" Liam opened an eye and peered into the dimly lit room. There were no decorations on the walls which were painted light blue. "Healers." Liam closed his eye and both him and Billy groaned, neither were to happy about being in the Healers wing. 

"Liam, are you still awake?" 

"No." before Billy could reply Asphalt woke up with a startled snort. She yawned, stretched and opened her eyes. 

"You're awake!" She shot out of her chair and raced to the door. "SHAY THEY'RE AWAKE." 

"Yes and now so is every other patient here. Keep your voice down Anna"

"Sorry." She gave the healer a sheepish look. Billy looked at Shay then at Asphalt his foggy brain was slowly making the connection that Anna must be Asphalt's real name.

"I know that both of you think you're at hell's front door and you, no doubt, want to leave as soon as possible. So now that you're both awake you'll be relieved to hear that you will be out of here by tomorrow afternoon, latest. That's the good news. I'm keeping you here to run a few tests to make sure that everything is healing properly and then if everything is okay you will be released. Now the bad news..."

"What could be worse then you armed with a scanner in one hand and an injection in the other?" Liam interrupted. Shay smiled and both his patients swore they could see an evil glint in his eye. 

"Eh-hem, the bad news..." he paused dramatically, "you are both confined to this base until I am satisfied that you are well rested and fully recovered from your injuries." Yes the evil glint was definitely there.

"You just had to ask." Billy glared at Liam.

"Further more," Shay continued ignoring the death stares which were being hurled across the room. "You will both be reporting to Lore for classes starting in a weeks time..."

"What? But I don't need any additional training. If anything I should be the trainer. Plus I've already been through Lore's "How to be a rebel 101" course."

"I know that but it seems not much of what you learnt sunk in. Let me remind you Liam Ki'tet that you have graced the Healer's wing more times than anybody else and that we are one step short of renaming one of the wards in your honour." Liam glared at Shay. Billy sat there smirking. "As for you young one don't be fooled that you reputation hasn't reached this end of The Foxhole." Billy's smirk slowly started to fade. "I have a feeling that we will be seeing a lot more of you in the future and remember this, there is more than one ward in this wing. Who knows you may even break Liam's record." 

"Humph." 

"For how long will we be grounded?" 

"Let's just say that for the moment it's open ended." Shay looked at their forlorn expressions and he tried, made a valiant attempt, but could not quite stop himself from laughing. 

"Shay, I swear you're a Sith in disguise." Liam muttered irritably. Shay only laughed harder and he had to lean against Asphalt - who had to wipe the tears from her eyes, she was laughing so hard - for support. 

~&~

"Liam since we're basically under house arrest and besides flying there isn't really that much to do around here..."

"We've only been restricted to the base for three days. Don't tell me you're bored already."

"There's nothing here to stimulate the mind besides reading and you can only read so many books."

"Is there a point to this?" 

"Um.. Could you um tell me how the war started and um how you got to Tatooine and about the Jedi?" He spat the question out before he could lose his nerve. 

"Oh that. I was hoping you'd forgotten about it. It's a very long story..." Billy sensed Liam's reluctance

"We have the time. I mean I don't think we're going to be out of here anytime soon." He flashed a winning smile. "Something to make the time go faster." Liam sighed

"Where do I start?"

"The beginning might be a good place." Billy said trying to put his friend at ease.

"The beginning? Okay," Pause, "well at the dawn of time..."

"Not that far back! The beginning of the war and how or why you came to Tatooine." Liam grinned.

"Ah! That beginning, why didn't you say so in the first place?" Billy did not bother replying. " I came to Tatooine about three weeks before the galaxy broke out into civil war, so that would be roughly eight years ago, to see if I could root out a group of Secessionists. I found them as soon as I - ah - landed. I'd call it a lucky break if I believed in such things. And why would anyone stay on this miserable little planet? I hear you ask. I stayed because I couldn't leave. That heap of charred metal at the end of the runway is or was my ship."

"The heap at the south end where repairs are done?" 

"The south end? No-o-o that was my second ship..."

"How many ships have you lost?!" 

"Three including Nova." He shrugged, "I just have bad luck with ships."

"I'll say you've been on this planet for two years and you've already written off three ships! Hey, I thought you didn't believe in luck."

"I don't."

"Then how can you say you have bad luck?"

"All right then. I've lost three ships because it was the will of the Force."

"Oh."

"Luck is easier." He muttered irritably. "Never mind." Liam rubbed his forehead. "Before the war the Sith and those who wanted to rule the galaxy played on the natural fear people have for the unknown. People who aren't Force sensitive tend not to understand the Force and those who can feel it and use it. In other words people who cannot feel the Force fear it and therefore they fear those who can use it. The current rulers of the galaxy used this fear to turn the galaxy's inhabitants against the Jedi and all other Force wielding citizens. Suspicion spread and more Force sensitive beings were unwelcome in more and more areas. The Jedi were the most well known group of Force users in the galaxy and as a result they suffered the most. The Jedi worked in the old republic as peace keepers and as suspicion of the Jedi grew it also began to appear in the senate. Outer to middle rim planets started to pull out of the senate because it worked closely with the Jedi. Fighting broke out across the galaxy and a short time later a powerful force defeated the warring factions and united them under a veil of fear. No one dares go against the Empire.

There are two sides to the Force the energy you and I use is the same as that used by the Jedi. The light side of the Force. It's fuelled by peace and tranquillity where you do not let emotions like anger and hate cloud you judgement. The Sith draw their power from the other side of the Force. The dark Side. They are driven by anger, hate and greed. A law was passed after the Sith gained power which decreed that any being using the light side of the Force was committing high treason and could be executed immediately, no trial necessary. This made their prosecution of the Jedi legal. After executing every Jedi they could lay their hands on, the Sith put a reward on the head of any live Jedi, who had escaped the genocide and a death warrant on those who were harbouring them. This was to dissuade anyone offering them asylum. The Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who is currently the Empire's leader, did this because Jedi are the only beings who can defeat the Sith in single combat. To put it simply, Jedi are a threat to the Empire's power. 

There is another reason why I stayed on Tatooine. It is one of the backwater planets on the outskirts of the galaxy. It was a member of the Galactic Republic and fell under the control of the Galactic Senate. The Senate was based on a planet called Coruscant. The Empire is also based on Coruscant, which is a long way from here and therefore the Senate and the Sith have little control over what happened here. Sith rule the planet, yet they have no control over it. It's kinda ironic huh?

Now the reasons why you can't tell anyone about the lightsaber; are first all the people on this base are already going to jail, probably for life. If the Sith discovered that I have a lightsaber they would assume I was a Jedi and every person associated with me would have no chance of pardon and would be sentenced to death. Secondly, we're both strong in the Force, the light side and since using the light side is considered high treason we would be executed probably without a trial. Is there anything else you want to know?" 

"You said you came here to find Secessionists." Liam nodded. "And you also said that they didn't trust Force users. So how come they trust you?"

"When I first arrived on the base the people here knew I was Force sensitive because of my midi-chlorian count. However, they felt I posed no threat to them."

"Why."

"I had just crash-landed on the outskirts of their base. I made my first visit to the Healers wing. I only regained consciousness after the war broke out. I was their prisoner until the rise of the Empire. Then they became rebels and they thought I'd be useful. That was quite some time ago and since then we have learnt to trust each other." He paused and took a sip of water. "Billy?"

"Yes?" 

"How did you end up as a slave?"

"Wha...? Oh. I... um woke up about a year ago wearing an electro-bracelet with no memory. My first job - I suppose you can call it - was on Caldinian's third moon working in an ionite mine. I got this," he lifted up his shirt to revel the letters BNS encased in a diamond - the insignia was about 5cm across - brunt into the flesh just below his bellybutton, "branded onto my stomach saying I was the property of Baron Natacka of the house Siladis when I was transferred to his palace on Caldinian. The healers there told me that my memory would return in time but I still don't know who I am or where I come from. The only reason I know my name is because it was written on the back of this." He lifted his wrist to show Liam his watch. Liam debated telling the youth about what he had discovered but decided that now was not the time to tell Billy that he had suspected him of treachery, for now he would wait and see if he could learn more about Billy's past. 

"You weren't born a slave?"

"Not that I know of." 

"You were a miner?" 

"Yes, I was."

"But they wear the bracelet on their right wrist, you had yours on you left. How...? " 

"It's a really, really long story..." 

"We have time." He gave Billy a mischievous grin, "I mean I don't think we're going to be out of here anytime soon. Something to make the time go faster." Billy threw a pillow at him.

"Liam remember when you destroyed those droids when we crashed?"

"Ye-e-e-es?" Liam arched an eyebrow 

"Did you use the Force?"

"Yes." He did not like where this was going

"Could you teach me how to do that and than I'll tell you everything you want to know." Liam frowned. He gathered the Force around him and gently stretched out to Billy. He could feel no evil, no darkness around the boy only light. He closed his eyes to meditate on the question hoping the Force would guide him to the correct answer. He could sense Billy's barely concealed impatience and noted that patience would be something he would have to work on if he would indeed train the boy. He let the Force fill him as he sunk deeper and deeper into his meditative trans. He saw glimpses of possible futures, what may be and what would come. Liam reopened his eyes having found his answer. He smiled.

"Spill." 

"Is that a yes?"

"That's a yes." Billy grinned but the smile soon faded as he realised that he would have to relive the past year as he told it to Liam.

"One last question. Are you a Jedi."

"Yes." Billy nodded.

~**_Flashback_**~

__

The third moon of Caldinian, Amnank, housed the current ruler's - Baron Natacka of Siladis - private Ionite mine. The conditions slaves worked in were some of the worst in the galaxy not only because the moon suffered from -40 degree temperatures on it's warmest days and well below -60 on it's coldest but mainly because of the Baron's attitude towards them. Despite the freezing temperatures the workers were provided with a minimal amount of clothing - a light long sleeved tunic, trousers made from the same material and a scuffed pair of boots which were more like second hand bits of leather sewn together - as the Baron felt that lack of warm cloths would be an incentive to keep his work force productive. Slaves were - by his reasoning - lazy by nature and if one did not take drastic measures no work would be done at all. 

The moon was home to the worst the Baron's army had to offer for it was a place where soldiers were sent for punishment or if they were expendable. Most of the guards had a lust for blood and delighted themselves in making the lives of those they oversaw as awful as possible. Each soldier was armed with the latest in blaster technology, an electro jabber and a BA38 attached to their belts which, when activated, encased the soldier's body in a protective force field strong enough to deflect anything from blaster bolts to knife blades. 

The slaves were divided into small camps of about three hundred men in order to prevent a full scale revolt against the Baron. Each camp was guarded by two hundred of the Baron's drones . The slaves in the camps were divided into working gangs consisting of six men who shared a dorm and then five dorms shared an outhouse. Each gang was guarded by four soldiers. The guard changed at the end of every month - six weeks - to prevent any sympathy for the slaves rising amongst the soldiers. 

During the night the Soldiers took shifts in guarding the perimeter of their camp. It was more a precaution then anything else because the slaves were fitted with standard electro-bracelets. At the end of each day the soldiers were responsible for changing the boundaries set in the electro-bracelets. 

The electro-bracelet, the symbol of slavery, controlled its owner through pain and fear of death. If a slave stepped ten centimetres over the boundary programmed into the bracelet they would be overpowered by an intense electric shock and if they - by some miracle - managed to get more than two metres from the boundary they would be terminated immediately. The bracelet Would inject poison from the tooklik plant into the slave's bloodstream which affected the victim's muscular and nervous systems causing their muscles to spasm as they died a slow painful death. There was no known cure for tooklik poison and research into an antidote had been banned after inquirers revelled the laboratories involved had questionable methods. 

The Bracelet was usually the only constant in a slave's life only to be removed when the barer hit a growth spurt or increased in value - miners and common servants were inexpensive and easy to replace, they wore the bracelet on their right wrist. Pilots, pleasure slaves and all those who served a special purposes were unique, difficult to replace and in high demand and were therefore exorbitantly expensive, they wore the bracelet on their left wrist. All The slaves on Amnank wore the bracelet on their right wrist because they were all miners. 

~&~

Billy had arrived on the moon shortly after one of the underground mines had collapsed leaving very few survivors. Billy was one of the replacements. He had been tested on Caldinian to see if he would be of any use on the moon and the Caldinian salve masters were delighted to find that he could detect ionite with surprising ease. He was sent to the moon to join a team of sniffers that had lost three of their members during the explosion. Most sniffers focused on taking soil samples to see if there were traces of Ionite in surface veins. However, the minerals that they usually came into contact with were of poor quality as they had been at the mercy of the elements but if the vein was good it would run deep into the moon's crust and from about two kilometres onwards some of the best ionite in the galaxy could be found. Some of the other miners thought sniffers had a cushy job. Where as the real work, that separated the men from the boys, took place below the surface where the proper mining took place. 

The team that Billy was part of specialised in deep ionite detection. This meant that they worked in the mine looking for new veins or leading the miners to ionite of better quality. They were only supposed to be seekers but as Billy found out - in no time - that being a slave meant you had no job description. Sniffers ended up mining just as hard if not harder than the actual miners. If they were found "loafing" and the other miners did nothing then the guards would punishing them for not working. Billy had managed to avoid the guards and so far he seemed to go unnoticed but he knew it would not last. He had been on the moon for close to seven weeks and during each week - ten days - he had seen the guards stun one of his fellow sniffers for doing nothing, as far as he could see. Now the sixth week was drawing to a close and all five of the other slaves had fallen under the wrath of the guards. This week, it was his turn. He did not know if it was the anticipation of what was to come or the actual event that caused salves to fear the guards but he did know that the anticipation was killing him. 

It was the end of the ninth day of the week and he had managed to get through the day unscathed. Now all he had to do was get to the camp and then he would have nothing to worry about because the tenth day was a day were slaves could rest and recuperate. The guards would have no control over his actions provided he did not try to leave the camp. A bell sounded interrupting his thoughts. The day was officially over. The guards motioned for the slaves to put their tools away before they were led back to the encampments. 

Billy walked amongst the throng of workers as they made their way to the camp where they could relax and soothe their aches and pains. Billy felt light headed. He had survived. The only thing troubling him were stiff aching muscles. This evening was his work gangs turn for a monthly shower. He had not been clean since he had arrived. He grinned but his grin did not go unnoticed. The guard, Akkara, who noticed Billy's happiness lent over to one of the other slaves in Billy's work gang. 

"Motak, see how that new slave smiles?" Motak looked to where Akkara was indicating and nodded. "He smiles because he has not been punished this month."

"Then he has reason t o smile, sir." Motak's voice was weary.

"Yes, Motak but isn't it unfair that you and all the others in your team have suffered the touch of Calik's electro-jabber and this," His distaste for the slave was prevalent in his voice, "has got off without so much as a scratch?" Motak sighed. He was to tired for this and his lack of interest was starting to annoy the guard. "I over heard him say that he has not been punished because he is not as stupid as the rest of you!" Akkara injected, what he hoped sounded like, incredibility into his voice. "See how he's laughing at you?" 

"I see." Motak's eyes narrowed. Akkara was careful not to let Motak see his smile. 

"He should be punished. Don't you agree?"

"Yes."

"I cannot do anything as he has done nothing obviously wrong," Motak knew differently but the thought of the consequences for speaking kept him quiet. "You and the rest of the men must sort him out before he becomes to insolent." Motak nodded. Yes the boy's feet would be placed firmly back on the ground. 

"This will be a lesson the arrogant little Sith will not soon forget." Motak muttered as Akkara moved away from him knowing his job was done. 

~&~

Billy looked down at his bed. He was so tired. Maybe he would have a shower in the morning and sleep now. He shook his head. No. For once he was going to go to bed clean. He grabbed a towel and some clean cloths and started to walk towards the door. Perhaps it was because he thought the danger had passed or because of his exhaustion that he had let his guard down but whatever the reason the hands that grabbed the back of his shirt and pushed him up against the wall were still a surprise. He could feel the hot breath of his attacker on his neck as the man grabbed his arm and pulled it behind his back. Billy bit down hard to avoid crying out. 

"Laugh at us will you?" The voice whispered menacingly. Before Billy could reply or defend himself he was flung onto the floor and a boot connected with his midsection, winding him. A hand grabbed his hair and pulled his head back forcing Billy to look into the man's eyes. Billy recognised his attacker as Ga'mas, the man he had been trying to avoid the whole time he had been on the moon. 

"He's a pretty little thing." A hand fought its way under Billy's tunic and he squirmed trying to evade the roaming fingers. Billy's hands were pinned beneath him and he was still finding it hard to breathe making his struggles weak and ineffective. Ga'mas pushed his fingers under Billy, pressing them into the youth's stomach. "Motak, we shouldn't waste..."

"He needs to be taught a lesson Ga'mas. We agreed." Motak sounded impatient. 

"Pity." The fingers withdrew. Ga'mas dropped Billy's head and pulled him off the floor. He shoved Billy into the waiting arms of Motak and another slave. Ga'mas balled his hand to form a fist. He aimed his first blow at Billy's head. Billy had recovered from the shock of the initial attack so he was able to swing his head out of the way. 

"That was a mistake." Motak whispered in his ear, " now you've angered him." Ga'mas hit Billy just below the heart with a left, right-hand combination. Billy wriggled trying to break free. 

"Hold him." Ga'mas warned as he aimed a front kick at Billy's chest. The blow connected firmly and Billy heard the sound of cracking bones. He gasped for breath only to be met by pain. Ga'mas punched Billy just below the eye and then kicked his leg. Billy cried out as his knee crumpled beneath him. Ga'mas then grabbed the boy's shirt holding him upright he kneed Billy in the groin. Billy opened his mouth gasping for air, his face knotted in pain and his broken ribs momentarily forgotten. Motak and his accomplice released their hold and Billy crashed to the floor. Ga'mas grabbed Billy's shirt and the sound of ripping material filled the room. He yanked the material away and bodily picked the teen off of the floor. Ga'mas dumped Billy onto a bed. He turned to Motak. 

"You and Somik. Hold him." They held Billy so that he was kneeling on the floor with his stomach pressed against the bed, his arms stretched above his head and held firmly against the sheets. Ga'mas took off his belt and wrapped one end around his hand for grip while the buckle swung freely. He lifted his arm above his head. 

~&~

Outside Akkara waited with his ear pressed against the door. He smiled when he heard the muffled sounds of a fight. There was a brief pause. He wondered if Motak would agree to throwing the boy across the camp boundary. He heard Ga'mas speak to Motak. The fight continued and then his smile became a grin when the night air was pierced by agonised screams which were quickly smothered. Ga'mas was right the boy was pretty. Akkara closed his eyes and pictured the intense silver-green eyes, the beautiful tanned face and the strong, young body. He moaned. Then his eyelids flew open and anger flashed in their brown depths. This would teach the boy to reject his advances. 

~&~

The Baron's palace on Caldinian was in darkness and all were asleep save one. The light in the Baron's private study was on low so that no one would be disturbed. It was not that the Baron would usually care whether he woke anyone or not but at the moment he wanted to be alone or more to the point he did not want to be around his squabbling family. He also felt restless. The boy the slave master, Tocust, had sent him earlier that evening had been given to much sedative and as he had wished there had been no struggle in fact there had been nothing at all. The boy had passed out before the door had closed behind him. The Baron starred at the computer screen in front of him where he had pulled up slave records. He entered a random number into the search box and the information he was looking for appeared almost instantaneously. 

Slave number: 8765

Slave Trader: Soim Aggar

Previous owner: Divatox

Status: Alive

Use: Ionite sniffer. 

Residence: Amnank, third moon of Caldinian

Name: William Cranston

Age: 18 standard years

Picture: Not found

A smile spread across the Baron's chubby face as he reached for his comm-link. He would give Tocust a headache. 

"Tocust. Wake up you lazy buffoon." 

"Sire?" Came the groggy reply.

"I wish for slave number 8765 to be sent to my quarters immediately." 

"Slave 8765?" The Baron smiled, the slave master was not awake properly. If he had been he would have realised that the number the Baron had given started with an eight meaning the slave was a miner. The reference for pleasure slaves usually started with a one.

"Sire!" Tocust's startled - very much awake - voice interrupted the Barons musings. " It's impossible to bring the slave you requested to you now. He's off planet."

"Do what you must Tocust but get him here before dawn." 

"Sire, if I may, this slave is a miner and his age is outside your normal range. Have you changed your preferences?"

"Are you questioning me?"

"Not at all my Lord, I am only wondering if I need to visit the slave markets." The Baron sighed. The conversation was giving HIM a headache. 

"Tocust," his tone full of warning, "just bring me the slave. We'll talk about your insubordinace in the morning." Tocust swallowed sharply. 

"But, Sire I must insist that you see reason. This slave has been on Amnank for at least six weeks! He will be no boy. It would be ill advised for you to be alone with a miner." He spat the word miner out like a curse. The Baron regarded Tocust for a moment seeing the logic in the man's words. 

"Very well. Bring him to my chambers tomorrow before the evening meal. Take what security measures you see fit." 

"Yes sire."

"Tocust do not harm him in any way. He must be in perfect condition otherwise you will suffer the consequences. Am I understood?"

"Perfectly Sire." 

~&~

Akkara waited until the muffled screams had been reduced to sobs before opening the door and making his presence known. Motak was the first to notice Akkara and he let go of Billy's hand. Somik looked up to see what had caused Motak to release their victim. The sight of the guard had him on his feet. Billy slipped to the ground now that nothing was holding him up. He brought his knees to his chest and buried his face against them. The cold night air caused his tattered back to sting even more but soon the cold had a numbing affect and he started to shiver violently. Ga'mas looked down to where Billy lay then at his accomplices his eyes questioning. Matok signalled for him to turn around. When he saw Akkara, the bloodied belt slipped from his fingers. Akkara opened his mouth to speak.

"By the Gods!" The exclamation came form behind him. Akkara looked over his shoulder and quickly snapped to attention as one of the head guards walked past him to where the boy lay. "Tocust will not be pleased." He stated as he looked down at the slave. The boy was covered in bruises and his back was a mess of blood and ragged skin. The man bent down to remove the gag, made out of strips of the boy's own shirt. "What is the meaning of this sergeant?"

"I don't know sir. I just walked..." The other man waved his hand, uninterested. 

"Corporal." Three men entered the room at the man's call. "Take this slave to the Healers."

"Yes sir." 

"Gently we don't won't him hurt more than necessary."

"Captain Falla, why are you concerning yourself with the affairs of that slave?" Akkara could not contain his curiosity. The Captain's eyes narrowed as he regarded the sergeant. 

"Slave master Tocust has ordered for him to be transferred to the Caldinian palace, unharmed. You will take full responsibility for his injuries." As Falla expected the guard's eyes widened and he began to tremble with fear. Falla smiled, he had never liked Sergeant Akkara. 

~&~

Slave master Tocust stormed into the Healers wing, the anxiety and outrage surrounding him formed an almost visible wall of emotion. 

"Where is Slave 8765?" The Healer meet the irate man's gaze calmly. 

"He is in the Bachta tank." 

"What are the extent of his injuries?" 

"He has torn ligaments in his knee, a fractured collar bone, three broken ribs, internal bleeding, a severely lacerated back and is suffering form loss of blood, shock and mild hypothermia. Now I have work to do..."

"Sith! Can you heal him before he sees the Baron?"

"The bones will take some time to mend, the Bachta will heal the bruises and his back, don't worry I'll make sure there aren't any scars. I can replace the blood he's lost but he will need lots of rest as he'll be very weak. He won't see the Baron until this evening so he should have warmed up a bit by then. Don't leave him with the Baron because if he's allowed more than a brief inspection he will realise that the boy has been injured."

"His hands are callused?"

"Yes?"

"Then the Baron will not do anything tonight. He likes his toys soft." The healer sighed.

"When the Baron dismisses you bring the boy back here immediately."

"I will." Tocust turned to leave but paused at the door. "Are you certain he will appear unharmed?"

"Yes." Tocust nodded relieved. 

~&~

Billy stood in front of the Baron bare foot and bare chested. He shivered slightly. There were metal cusps around each of his ankles with a small chain connecting the two which allowed him to take small steps. His wrists were bound together in front of him in a similar fashion. He swayed slightly. The painkillers the healers had given him along with the beating made his head swim and he found it difficult to focus. The image of the Baron kept becoming distorted and then clear but for Billy's part he wished that it stayed distorted because the Baron did not make the prettiest of pictures. He was about five foot eleven but his hight was dwarfed by the large amount of fat which hung from his body. He wore long, black, robes which concealed most of his enormous bulk. The image lost focus again. Billy heard a soft chuckle. He thought it came from the obese man in front of him but his world was one of drugged obscurity making it difficult to be sure. There was a shuffling of feet and the warm touch and support of the guard was gone. He closed his eyes and focused on staying upright. Once he felt sure of his balance he reopened them hoping to make sense of his surroundings but the haze seemed to have deepened. 

The Baron pursed his large lips sucking in his massive cheeks he let a breath out through his mouth. He was quite pleased with his selection. The boy, for that is what he still was, was exquisite. His hair was growing out of its short cut, dark at the roots with pale tips where previous highlights were almost gone. A lock of hair fell across his forehead hiding it, the light tips just reaching his eyes. His lids were half closed allowing only the barest glimpses of the silvery-green orbs beneath. The Baron was captivated by the unfocused gaze for a moment before tracing an invisible finger down a straight noble nose following the line to a soft, full mouth with lips slightly parted revelling perfect teeth. The Baron let his gaze linger for a moment and then continued his study of the face which was finished by a strong jaw with a cleft in the chin. His eyes dropped lower to an unmarked neck. He licked his lips unconsciously as he drank in the sight of broad, well muscled shoulders and torso, narrow hips and long legs. 

The Baron stepped closer and picked up one of the boy's slim hands, the other hung limply below. He rubbed his thick fingers over the palm only to find it work worn and callused. He frowned. He moved his caress up the long slender fingers which were deceptively strong. He dropped the hand and watched the boy as he swayed slightly. The Baron assumed that Tocust had made a miscalculation with the sedative again, no matter. He reached out to trace the lines on the washboard abdomen only to have the slave take an unsteady step backwards to escape the slight touch. The Baron smiled and moved behind the slave and reached round to continue his exploration. The slave, as predicted, stepped back again only to find himself pressed against the Baron. 

Billy felt momentarily panicked he could not escape the phantom fingers; did not know where they came from. He stepped away from the feather light touch and felt something soft behind him. The fingers pushed him slightly so that he was leaning backwards into whatever it was. The fingers continued to probe and Billy sucked in his stomach trying to escape the touch. He felt a draft of warm air against his skin, then something moist grazed the base of his neck. He lent forward away from it and the fingers moved higher up his chest. He was trapped between the probing fingers and the thing behind him. He tried to push the hand away but something forced his hands down. He had to get away.

The slave managed to execute a turn which allowed him to break free of the Baron's grasp. For a few moments it seemed as if he would fall. The Baron signalled for the guards to come and hold him. Once the slave was firmly in their grasp he dropped the chain joining the boy's wrists. His smile had an air of malevolence as he regarded the slave. This one would be fun to break. 

"Tocust, I want this slave to be given soft, stressless jobs around the palace until the calluses on his hands have gone. He is to be confined to the palace and Tocust we don't want to lose any of this muscle." The Baron reached out and squeezed the young slave's shoulder. Tocust paled. The Baron's gaze was focused on the Slave master so he missed the slave's pain filled expression. " Am I understood?"

"Yes sire." 

"Good." He waved his large had non-committedly. "Dismissed." 

~&~

Billy walked carefully towards the first of many flights of stairs. He was carrying a tray covered with different kinds of fruit, glasses of juice - filled to the brim - and two pots of steaming, caffeine filled, Jaffa. It was the breakfast tray belonging to Maeve, one of the Baron's daughters. 

This was the first time Billy had been allowed out of the palace's staff section. It was also the first time that he had realised that the Baron was not the palace's only highborn occupant. 

He watched the glasses of juice intently, making sure that nothing spilt while his hand reached out blindly in search of the banister, which would guide him up the stairs. Sparing a moment he glanced up, away from the tray, to the top of the stairs. It was quite a long flight and Maeve's room was on one of the top floors. He still had a long way to go and he had to walk slowly so as not to spill any of the juice. He looked back at the lobby. Perhaps he should have used one of the turbo lifts. No, he had been cooped up in the Palace for over a week with nothing to do but peel potatoes. He needed to stretch his legs. 

The tray started to slide out of his grasp. Balancing on one leg, Billy lent the tray on his knee and shifted his hands along its sides to get a better grip. It would not do for him to drop the Lady Maeve's breakfast. Cook had warned him that Maeve had a viscous temper, one that he would not want to face. 

He reached the top of the stairs. A large sign hung on the wall opposite him: 1st floor_. He saw the lift tube just a few paces away. He strode towards it and pressed the button. Maeve would not be happy if he were late, Billy reasoned as he stepped through the doors. Besides ten flights were a lot of steps. _

He looked around the lift's interior. The side where the control panels were, was made of a light, slightly red coloured wood. It's polished surface shone in the light provided by a large elegant glow lamp in the centre of the roof. The other walls were covered with a lush, red carpet until about halfway up, the other half was made of mirror. There was a thin gold trim separating them. 

The doors opened. Billy decided that he would use the stairs on his way back to the kitchen. He grimaced as he envisioned a new stack of potatoes waiting for his return. By the Gods, he really hated peeling potatoes. He would even prefer to spend some quality time with the Healers. He shook his head, perhaps that was a bit excessive. 

Billy stepped out of the lift and hurried down the hallway. It was richly decorated. The carpet on the floor was the same as the one used to decorate the walls in the lift. The walls where painted a light cream colour and there were various paintings adorning them. Some were portraits of the Baron's ancestors while the others were of beautiful landscapes. 

He came to Maeve's door and was surprised to find that it was made of a deep rich wood with a normal handle and an old-fashioned lock. All the other doors in the Palace (that he had seen) had been replaced by more advanced doors with electronic locking systems. 

He checked the tray to make sure everything was in place and that he had not spilt anything. He took a moment to steady his breath before knocking. 

"Enter." Billy stared at the door trying to work out how he was going to open it and keep the tray level at the same time. He lifted the tray higher than the door handle, using his elbow to push it down he lent against the door to open it. The room behind it was lavishly decorated with red and gold patterned wall-hangings hiding the walls. The head of the bed was pushed against the centre of the wall opposite the door. It was covered in large, cream-coloured pillows and a deep red bedspread. Billy swallowed hard. Amidst the satin lay a vision. 

Maeve wore a dark-blue, almost black robe which stood in stark contrast to the rest of the room. She turned her elfin face towards him. Her hair was as red as fire and her eyes, hazel-gold. Billy wondered if she were the inspiration for the decor. He took a deep breath and fixed his eyes on the wall above the bed. He did not want to be caught staring.

"What do you want?" The voice was male, distinctly upper class and definitely not what Billy was expecting.

"B... breakfast." He stammered, eyes trying to find the source of the voice. He realised that the chair next to the bed was occupied. The man had shoulder-length, blonde hair and pale blue eyes, filled with mirth. 

"I don't believe I've seen him before. Have you cousin?" Her voice was sharp and crisp with a slight high-class accent.

"No, I haven't."

"You're new?" Her eyes sparkled with laughter at the thought of a new game.

"Yes." The was a brief silence before Billy realised that they were waiting for him to say something. "Miss." She smiled and it sent a chill down his spine. "Where can I put this... Miss?" He wanted to get away as fast as possible. 

"Definitely new." She murmured. " Over there." She pointed at a table on the other side of the room. She gave her cousin a conspiring smile as she watched Billy carefully put the tray down. He hurried to the door. "I have not dismissed you." His hand dropped from the Handle. "Come here. Good, now sit," she patted the edge of the bed, "we wish to learn more about you. Where are you from?" Billy hesitated before he sat, alarm bells ringing in his head. 

"I don't know." He spoke softly hopping that her interest would fade. Soon. 

"You don't know? Most extraordinary, wouldn't you agree Cadfael?" The man in the chair nodded. "Where were you before you came here?"

"Amnank." 

"A miner? Oh my and why are you now working in the palace?"

"Master Natacka..."

"Aren't you a bit old for my father?" Billy looked at her confused.

"To old for what?" 

"Then you have not warmed my father's bed?"

"NO!" Billy's expression was one of horror. He shuddered as a picture of the Baron entered his head. 

"Perhaps he should warm yours." Cadfael suggested. He was enjoying this. He guessed that the slave would refuse.

__

"Excuse me?" 

"You should return here after evening meal and..." Cadfael left the rest up to the young slave's imagination. Billy's face turned an interesting shade of red. Cadfael smiled. This was the most fun he had had in ages. "What do you think cousin?"

"An interesting plan. Cadfael but first I must ask father. You Know how he can be with his slaves?" 

"Guards them jealously." 

"What's your name?"

"Billy... miss."

"Billy, what do you think of Cadfael's plain?" Billy paled. "Well?"

"Um.." 

"I don't think he likes the idea. It was stupid of me to suggest it."

"No it was stupid of him to refuse it. You are dismissed." Billy hesitated wondering if he should defend himself. "Out of my sight." No now was not the time to argue. He slid off of the bed and almost ran from the room. Maeve watched his retreating form. Once the door was closed she collapsed with laughter. 

"You're terrible cousin! Did you see his face?" Cadfael only nodded. He was laughing to hard to reply verbally. Then Maeve's face sobered and her eyes filled with curiosity, "I wonder what father wants him for."

"Maybe he's to fight your brother in the ring."

"I doubt that. If he were a gladiator he would not be serving breakfast. He's not bad looking. Maybe father's changed his preferences."

"I'd like to see him face Dannan." Cadfael rubbed him chin thoughtfully, "wouldn't you?"

"It could be quite a fight. The good and the ugly. But how? If father has other plans for him then he won't just hand him over for my brother to .fight!" Cadfael smiled. "You have a plan don't you? Come on cousin do tell." 


	4. Trust I Seek

__

A/N: Hiya sorry again for the delay. Also sorry it's so short. I promise to update faster next time. I have a lot more time on my hands (I'm on holiday now) And I'm going to post more short chapters like this one so I don't have to connect so much and then I won't get stuck. Again I've lost my beta so if you see any gaping plot holes and stuff drop me a line. Anyhoo enough rambling from the author, enjoy.

For disclaimers and other stuff see previous chapters.

Trust I Seek  
By  
Devon  


__

~&~

"Trust I seek and I find in you Every day for us something new Open mind for a different view And nothing else matters" ~ Nothing Else Matters Metallic 

__

~&~

A knock at the door interrupted Billy's narrative. Liam reached out with the Force to unlock the door.

"It's open." A Healer entered the room. She was new and obviously nervous about meeting the infamous duo.

"Healer Martinez has requested that you report to the Healers wing for a check up." 

"When?"

"As soon as possible."

"That means now." Liam muttered. "Come on lets get this over and done with." With feet as heavy as lead they followed the young Healer to Shay's lair.

~&~

Shay smiled when he saw them.

"Ahh. Hello and how are my two favourite people?"

"Fine."

"Mumph."

"What's that Liam you're mumbling."

"I said 'I'm fine' " Shay smiled. Billy and Liam exchanged worried looks. The Healer was far to happy, one could go as far as to say he looked pleased. This did not bode well for the pair.

"Right who's my first vic...ehrm... patient?"

"He is!" both men said simultaneously pointing at one another.

"Okay. Liam hop onto the bed."

"Why me?!"

"You're older." Shay turned to Billy who was sporting a smug expression. " Don't worry you'll get your turn." Billy slumped into one of the chairs, his smile gone. "Roll over." Shay instructed as he emptied the contains from a bottle into a syringe. The needle was huge and Liam's worry quickly grew into alarm. "Relax. Have I ever hurt you."

"Yes."

"When?"

"Every time I come here."

"So you'd prefer it if I didn't stitch your sorry butt back together after all of your unique accidents?" Shay jabbed the needle into Liam's backside causing him to wince in pain. "That wasn't so bad now was it?" Liam just glared at the healer. "Sit up and take off your tunic. I want to see how those ribs are doing." Liam did as he was told and winced, again, as he sat on his now sore behind. Shay gently probed the bruised area on Liam's chest. Liam wriggled. "I didn't press hard."

"No but your fingers are like ice." Shay simply shook his head and pressed a scanner over the broken ribs.

"The bones are knitting together nicely." He mused reading the results. "I still want you to rest and that means no sparring with Lore am I understood."

"Yes."

"Good you can get down. Next." Liam laughed at Billy's horrified expression. Billy in return lightly punched Liam's shoulder. "Now, Now I don't want any more injuries to treat. Roll over." Billy gulped. He really, really hated needles. The Healer was just as merciless with Billy as he had been with Liam.

"You're a sadist Shay." Liam observed. 

"What makes you think that? Sit up. Tunic off." The Healer started removing the bandage covering Billy's side. The teen flinched.

"Your hands are COLD." Shay smirked as he continued to remove the bandage.

"Looking good." Billy looked down to examine his wound. It was not a pretty sight and it made the young man feel slightly queasy.

"If that's good I'd hate to see bad."

"Liam's had some interesting scrapes that we've taken holos of if you're interested." Billy paled.

"No thanks." Shay chuckled and picked up a tube of anti-septic cream which he rubbed into the wound. Billy released his breath in a hiss and jerked away.

"Hold still. Almost done." Shay slapped on more of the solve, "there finished." The healer rebandaged the wound. "I'm going to give you some of this solve and clean bandages. You must change the dressing every day, don't forget and don't get the dressings wet. I want you both back here two weeks from today. Now how are you for painkillers."

"Still going strong."

"Before I forget, Liam you have to go to conference room E for a briefing. All right that's everything. You're free to go. Just remember our date in two weeks." 

"Don't worry we won't forget." 

~&~

Liam returned from his meeting to find Billy sprawled on the couch with a pack of formally frozen Palla Beans covering the left side his face. Liam walked over to the couch to investigate. The youth had fallen asleep. Liam wondered why or how anyone could fall asleep with a pack of frozen anything in contact with their body. The boy stirred and opened his eyes. Well Liam assumed they were both open. He could not actually see the left eye as it was still hidden behind it's frozen vegetables. 

"I thought you didn't like Palla Beans?"

"I don't."

"Then why are you sleeping with them?"

"Um. How was your meeting?" Liam knew his friend was trying to change the subject but he let it slide. They had more important things to discuss. 

"Two droids crashed a few miles from here. Followed by shipload of imperial troops and they may have discovered Foxhole." Billy sat up in alarm, the Palla Beans slipping from his face. Liam raised an eyebrow.

"They know about us?"

"It's possible but we're going to leave Tatoonie soon. The heads are deciding the best course of action because our backup plan has been nullified..." 

"Nullified? How?"

"The empire used it as a test subject for their new biological weapon. So we were discussing alternatives. The rest of the base will be briefed before the end of the week. Why do you have a black eye?"

"What? Oh." Billy's hand instinctively reached up to his swollen face. "I was... in a... scuffle." Liam just looked at Billy. "It wasn't my fault! I swear! I was trying to stop the fight..." He lowered his eyes. "But I just got in the way." 

"Toss me those beans. They'll have to be refrozen. I only hope they don't go off. Come into the kitchen. I'll clean that cut."

"It's okay."

"Come here." Liam pulled a chair away from the table before grabbing the first aid kit which they now kept in the kitchen.

"I'm fine." There was a hint of annoyance in Billy's voice. 

"Do you want me to reschedule your appointment with Shay for now?"

"I'm coming." Billy sat up stiffly and made his way slowly to the kitchen. Liam looked at his friend in concern. There was more here then met the eye.

"Take off your tunic."

"Why?"

"Because you're hurt."

"No I'm not." Liam prodded the youth causing him to jerk away. 

"Ouch." 

"I thought you weren't hurt."

"You just jabbed me in the ribs of cause it bloody well hurt!"

"I didn't jab you that hard. Tunic off."

"No."

"We can just pay our friendly healer a visit." Liam smirked slightly.

"That's blackmail." Billy begrudgingly removed his tunic.

"Gods what happened?"

"I was in a scuffle." Billy reiterated.

"Some scuffle." Liam let out a low whistle.

"Okay so I got hit a couple of times." 

"Yeah and by the looks of it one of your attackers wares a size ten." Liam said leaning in a bit for a closer look.

"Huh?"

"Of cause that's just an estimate. To be sure I'd have to measure the shoe-print."

"All right so it was a bit rough."

"Just a bit?" Liam dug out some anti-septic salve and some bacta bandages. "What was the fi... um scuffle about." Billy sighed.

"One of them won a bet and the other refused to pay up."

"Why did they turn on you?" Liam began to clean Billy's wounds.

"Owe. You're worse than Shay."

"Nonsense." Liam gave Billy an evil grin. Swish, slap. " Why did they turn on you?"

"I just got in the way." 

"Hmm." Liam was sceptical. "What was the bet about?" Swish, slap.

"Sith! The battle."

"The battle?" Swish, slap. Billy winced and jerked away from Liam who calmly pulled him back. Swish, slap.

"Yes." 

"What about the battle?"

"Don't know." Billy forced out between clenched teeth.

"Do you realise it's almost impossible to lie to a Jedi?"

"Who says I'm lying?" Liam raised an eyebrow.

"The Force. Now what exactly was the bet about?"

"Me." Billy sighed realising that Liam would find out sooner or later because the base's grapevine worked faster than a ship in hyperspace. Swish.

"You?" Liam's hand paused in mid air 

"Yes me."

"Why?" Slap.

"The one guy placed a bet with the other saying that I would not survive my first battle."

"So why did they turn on you?" Swish, slap.

"The odds were ten to one against and the bookie..."

"Bookie?"

"Yeah the guy who..."

"I know what a bookie is." Swish, slap.

"Oh. Well anyway the bookie was refusing to pay up and then the two started fighting so I stepped between them. You know to try and pull them apart. It worked for a bit but then the bookie realised who I was and well things get a little blurry from there."

"I see. Any idea who they are?" Swish, slap.

"No."

"Right." Swish, slap. "All done. Now I think it would be a good time for you to start you training..."

"But Shay said no strenuous activity."

"Yes and you have already disregarded his orders but not to worry being a Jedi isn't only about lightsabers. Today I'm going to teach you how to find your centre and meditate.."

"Meditation? Doesn't sound so bad."

"Famous last words." Liam mumbled to himself and he dug out two meditation mats. "Right sit down. Good. You are strong in the Force Billy but you need to focus your energy before you will be able to use the Force to help you. Do you understand? Good. before I teach you how to build a lightsaber you have to learn to release you emotions, like anger, into the Force. Remember when I told you that there are two sides to the Force, light and dark?"

"Yes."

"To attack in anger is to use the dark side of the Force. To be a Jedi you must learn to release your anger, fear, jealousy into the Force as this will help you find your calm centre. At the moment your emotions control you. What this exercise will do is teach you to let go of your feelings, your conscious self and help you learn to except your emotions so that they will no longer control you. Are you ready?" 

"I think so."

~&~

"Stop fidgeting." Liam admonished the young man sitting next to him.

"We've been doing this for hours!" 

"We've been doing this for fifteen minutes."

"Oh."

"Billy relax, now close your eyes. Clear your mind. Focus on the energy you feel around you. Let go of your conscious self." 

Billy did as he was told, as best he could. The first thing he was aware of was a very strong, powerful presence. He knew it had to be Liam. It was very focused but very calm and comforting. Billy let his awareness brush against it and received an answering pulse of energy in return. 

He turned his attention away from Liam. Billy found he could almost see the room around him so accurate was the picture the Force painted for him. He gently let his mind touch Liam's pot plant. It gave off a quiet sort of pulse. The plant was very peaceful. Billy found it relaxing. 

Billy's senses left the plant. He carried on with his mental exploration and found the mouse he had suspected to be in the kitchen, nestled amongst the dried herbs. It's little presence filled the Force with something very different then aura of the plant. Instead of the calm relaxing energy of the planet, the mouse gave off a little bubble of happy playfulness. A smile formed on Billy's lips. He was glad he had not set the traps he had been planning to, despite how unhygienic the mouse's presence was. He decided to use the mouse as something to focus on and soon felt the calm of the Force fill him as he slipped into a deep meditation. It was the most relaxing sensation he had ever felt.

Liam opened his eyes and stretched once Billy had stopped fidgeting he had had quite an enjoyable meditation. He checked his crono three hours he was impressed most people just learning to meditate did not last more than half an hour. Liam looked over at Billy to congratulate the boy and found him slumped over on his meditation mat fast asleep. Fortunately the teen was not drooling. Liam gave a small rueful smile. He sent a Force suggestion to Billy to make sure he did not wake him and then gently put the teen to bed. 

~&~

Liam was awoken sometime later by muffled cries. He sat up confused as to where they came from but then he realised that it was Billy. The Boy seemed to be in the grips of a terrible dream as he fought with his blankets. Liam heaved himself out of bed and quickly made his way to the struggling teen. He gently shook Billy's shoulder.

"Billy." There was no response, "I need you to wake up, young one." Billy's eyelids flew open. His eyes sort Liam's, the sliver-green orbs were awash with fear and confusion, the remnants of the dream. "It's all right. It was just a dream." 

"Just a dream?" It was a whispered statement, so quite Liam barely heard it. 

"Yes, just a dream." He nodded pushing the teen's damp hair off his face. Billy took a deep breath.

"I'm OK now."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Like you said, just a bad dream." Liam eyed the young man before him.

"You've had this dream before?" Silence. Liam thought that his friend was not going to answer him.

"Yes." 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Again there was a long pause.

"Um I... I'm not sure it's a dream. I mean I know I'm dreaming but it's... it's...um"

"More like a memory?" 

"Yes." The youth nodded his head vigorously. "It's something I should know but I can't quite remember and every time I try it just slips out of my reach. I... I remember the scene in the dream but I don't know how I got there or what happens afterwards. But it is getting longer." 

"Tell me the dream maybe it will help."

"I..."

"Trust me." Billy caught his lower lip between his teeth. Liam lifted Billy's chin so that he was forced to meet his gaze. The uncertainty he read there was painful to behold. "Let me help you." Finally the boy nodded. 

~&~

__

Billy found himself in a strange room; he was lying on a table with a bright light over head. The table felt cold to his bare back. He heard the voices of the people who surrounded him. He forced his eyes open despite the glare from the light. 

"Ah good you're awake." The nearest figure spoke.

"Yts'an?" Billy's face a mask of confusion. 

"Billy, did you know that testing the Tooklik antidote on sentient beings, even slaves is illegal? No of cause you didn't. Silly of me not to mention it before." He turned away from Billy, "is the antidote ready?"

"Yes Healer." 

"Good." Yts'an smiled and he pulled his surgical mask over his mouth and nose. "In a few days a new law should be passed legalising testing, as long as you have the subjects consent of cause." Billy felt his mouth go dry.

"I haven't given you my consent."

"Uh but you have my young friend. Those papers you signed were not for your release. You should read things through before you sign them."

"I trusted you."

"Another mistake. You shouldn't go around just trusting everyone. Especially when you are a slave. You are much to trusting my young friend. You'll find that there are many people out there who will take advantage of your trusting nature. You should know more about someone before you give them your trust and even then they can surprise you. Do you think I have lived this long by trusting people? Of cause not but enough of this. You know the effects of the poison?"

"Yes." Billy swallowed, forcing down his fear.

"Good. The antidote has similar effects and some say slightly more painful. But what's a small amount pain when compared to your life? Before we can give you the antidote we have to administer the poison. If we did it the other way round, not only would there be no point to the exercise but the antidote would probably kill you." Billy pulled on the ropes that held him to the table. " The effects of the antidote were published by the investigation committee that closed down all laboratories involved in the testing. So as you can imagine we have few willing volunteers."

"You can't do this." Billy felt panic rise inside him and pulled desperately at his bonds. Yts'an smiled beneath his mask. 

"Relax Billy. Apparently it's less painful if you're calm. Don't worry the straps will stop you from hurting yourself to badly." Yts'an nodded to the nurse near a console at the other side of the room. Billy felt a slight prick in his arm where his bracelet was. At first there was nothing but then he could feel a soft burning sensation in the pit of his stomach and slowly it started to spread across the rest of his abdomen. 

A flash caught Billy's eye and a needle came into view; he was transfixed by the syringe. He watched as the hand holding it gently pushed the plunger up causing tiny droplets to appear at the needle's tip. The hand brought it towards him in what seemed like slow motion. 

"Because this is your first time we will administer the antidote before the pain really kicks in and then the next time, if you survive, we will give you the antidote a bit later and so forth." Billy's panic consumed him and he tried to get away. The needle moved closer and closer. Laughter echoed in his ears as he struggled helplessly against the shackles which held him in place. A rough hand gripped his arm tightly, stopping its movement. Billy felt the cold steel of the needle enter his arm and a chill ran down his spine. He could feel the path the liquid traced through his veins. The burning in his abdomen intensified and moved along his arms and down his legs. His body felt as if it were on fire. Billy gritted his teeth against the pain refusing to scream. Suddenly the pain was gone as if it had never been there. Billy wondered if the ordeal was over but the doctors were still watching him intently. He closed his eyes preparing himself for a fresh onslaught of pain. Nothing happened. Then he felt something touching his skin. He opened his eyes to see what it was. There was nothing there but he could feel the tickling fingers covering his body. He struggled to free his hands so he could push it away. It reached his hands and he clawed at his palms trying to get rid of whatever it was that was touching them. Then the pain returned taking him by surprise. It was more intense then before and much, much worse. A scream ripped from his throat, leaving his breathing ragged. Tears fought their way out from under tightly shut lids. Billy thrashed wildly against his bonds. Then it was gone but he could still feel its echo.

"An unfortunate side affect." Yts'an's unsympathetic voice broke through Billy's pain filled haze. The Healer sounded quite pleased. "One of the effects of Tooklik is that it melts your organs so before we know for sure whether the antidote was successful we have to make sure you're all in one piece. We cannot give you an anaesthetic because when mixed with the antidote death often results." He reached for an injection. "This will cause temporary paralyses in your muscles so that you won't hinder our operation. Everything else however will remain functional."

"Why?" It was no more than a whisper.

"For science, my dear boy. For science." Yts'an slid the injection into Billy's vein. Billy tried to pull away from the needle but his bonds held him fast. Billy's struggles started to slow until they eventually stopped; the injection had taken full effect. Billy's terrified eyes darted from mask to mask. Yts'an held scalpel in Billy's line of sight, its sharp blade gleaming in the light. Yts'an moved his hand and the scalpel disappeared only to be followed by indescribable pain. Billy's lax muscles did not even allow him the solace of being able to scream. He was relieved when the soft comfort of unconsciousness finally claimed him.

~&~

"He's coming to." a voice broke through Billy's foggy senses.

"It's about time."

"Healer Yts'an?..."

"What?!"

"The Tooklik Bill... not... passed..."  


"I heard you...." 

"The authorities... on... way..."

"... time... have?"

"Ten minutes..."

" Yts'an... used... witness..."

" Give me... device..." A bright flash shone through Billy's closed eyelids and then he fell back into the arms of unconsciousness.

~&~ 

Liam listened quietly to Billy's narrative, without interruption, until the boy had finished.

"You said you remember a bright flash?"

"I think so."

"It seems, well I think, they gave you a memory wipe."

"Why? What could I have possibly done to them? I was just a slave no one would have listened to me, let alone believed me."

"In most cases you're right, I hate to admit, but the name Yts'an sounds familiar. He was probably caught for malpractice before and that would have worked in your favour. He probably didn't want to take any risks. Were you with the Baron Natacka before you met Yts'an?"

"I don't know. I don't remember ever actually meeting Yts'an." There was hint of frustration in Billy's voice. 

"It's all right don't worry about it." Liam rubbed his chin in thought. "I'm an idiot. You couldn't have met the Baron before Yts'an. If I'm right and Yts'an gave you a memory wipe you wouldn't remember the Baron. If fact you can probably thank this Yts'an guy for you not being able to remember your past." Liam said triumphantly.

"Is there a way to reverse the effects of the memory wipe?"

"Sometimes things related to a person's past - places, people that sort of 

thing - are mentioned or visited, it can trigger their memories. It doesn't always happen but it is possible. Do you remember anything before you arrived at Amnank?"

"Nothing much only vague images." Liam nodded his encouragement for Billy to continue. "I don't know... um," his brow scrunched up as he concentrated, his eyes closed. "A woman, I remember a woman. She had purple hair, long. I think. A large gold mask covered most of her face and she wore a big red collar..." 

"Anything else?" 

"No." Billy sighed and shook his head.

"It's a start."

"This memory wipe how does it work?"

"I'm not actually sure how it works." The Jedi Master admitted, "but we can find out in the morning. Right now however it's late and we both need sleep." Billy opened his mouth to argue but Liam forestalled him. "Sleep." He said with more than a little Force compulsion and Billy fell back onto his bed like a felled tree.

*************

Yts'an in nasty spelt backwards and you gotta love Force whammies. :)


	5. Take it away

Hiya thank you for sticking with me Eclipse and anyone out there who's still reading and thank you all for the feedback. This one is out relatively fast for me. :) Stuff between *" denotes thoughts. All legal stuff is in the first chapter and with that I'm going to shut up and get on with it. :) 

****

Take it Away  
By  
Devon

~&~

__

"I got dosed by you  
Closer than most to you  
What am I supposed to do  
Take it away I never had it anyway  
Take it away and everything will be okay"  
~ Dosed by Red Hot Chili Peppers

~&~

Light suddenly assaulted the sleeping figure entangled in his bed sheets. With a soft groan of protest Billy pulled his pillow over his head to block out the offending light. He was not and never would be a morning person. He could not understand how Liam could get up before sunrise and still seem so cheerful without even drinking any jaffa! 

"Come on get up, you can't laze in bed all day. We've got work to do."

"Mummgruph!"

"Nonsense. Mornings are the start of a new day, full of promise." An eye appeared from underneath the pillow. The gaze was frosty. "Come on we have meditations to do..." This time the whole head appeared from beneath the pillow and the look could have frozen the Dune Sea, 

"Even the sun's not up!" Billy pointed out in tone that matched the glare.

"... ships to fly; memory wipes to reverse." Liam wriggled his eyebrows at his gumpy friend. Billy tried to decide whether remembering his past was worth leaving his nice... warm... cozy... bed. With a sigh he wormed his way out of his blanket-cocoon. 

"Lead the way."

"You might want to get dressed first. I mean, sure it gets hot later but at this hour its a bit chilly to walk around like that." Billy gave Liam a withering glare which didn't wither him in the lest. 

~&~

Liam slid into a chair in front of one of the computer terminals; leaving Billy to search around for a seat while they waited for the computer to warm up. After waiting a couple of minutes the search box appeared on screen. Liam typed in what they wanted. 

"This will take awhile. Billy?"

"Yeah?"

"You never finished telling me how you ended up on Tatooine." 

Billy looked down at the floor suddenly finding it the most fascinating thing in the galaxy. His thoughts followed each other. Racing around in his head like a dog chasing it's tail were the memories of acts of the Past, present, hurt, betrayal, slavery, hope, freedom, trust. Finally he raised his head his decision made with one truth remaining. Trust was something he was still capable of and after all Liam had done it was the lest he could give him. 

__

~FLASHBACK~

Rays of sunlight laid gentle fingers on the figure who stretched lazily on the beach slowly leaving the sweet remnants of sleep behind him. 

__

"Billy?" He heard someone call his name. He looked around for the source of the voice and spotted a girl with long black hair and honey coloured skin coming towards him.

" _Yes?" _

"Do you want to come scuba diving with me and..." Before she could finish her question strange grey things appeared from thin air and attacked them. One of them grabbed him by the shoulders and started shaking him. He was separated from the girl who was frantically calling his name.

"Billy!"

~&~

Billy sat up on his sleep couch, sleep leaving him quickly for once. Cook was standing above him. Her face wore a grim expression and her hand was held, poised ready to strike him. 

"Good you're awake. Master Natacka wants to see you. You'd best get dressed. You have to be in the Master's chambers in ten minutes. You can have breakfast when you get back." 

Billy climbed out of bed and grabbed a pair of pants from his makeshift cupboard - the floor. He had given up all attempts at privacy in the time he had been the property of Baron Natacka. That did not mean he was comfortable with it. He had just learnt to live with it.

"Do you know why he wants to see me?" Billy had a bad feeling about this. 

"No but Master Tocust seemed quite happy. Only been out of the Kitchen for a week and your already in trouble." She Said shaking her head.

"How do you know I'm in trouble?" He asked pulling the cleanest tunic he could find from the pile on the floor. 

"Tocust's only ever happy when the Master has granted him permission to punish someone."

"Punish someone?" Billy adjusted his collar frowning. He had a REALLY bad feeling about this.

"Aye. You've seen Malya?" 

"Yes."

"She didn't always look like that so full of scars. She used to be beautiful." 

"Are all his punishments so severe?" Billy asked 

"It depends on what you've done. They're waiting for you. They don't like waiting." Billy nodded and quickly finished dressing. He had just reached the door when Cook stopped him.

"Remember, don't speak unless your spoken to. Keep you head bent at all times and don't make eye contact. Try to look as submissive and repentant as possible. What ever you do don't argue. It will only make you punishment worse. They see arguing as a sign of disrespect. Never show disrespect to your master." She said as she pulled his tunic straight. 

~&~

Billy stood, once again, before Baron Natacka. This time however he was fully dressed and in control of all of his faculties. He was careful to heed Cook's advice and kept his head bent and his eyes firmly on the floor.

"Bring him closer." The Baron instructed. Billy's pulse quickened. There was undisguised malice in the large man's voice. Once his orders had been carried out the Baron continued in a much softer, gentler voice. "Maeve, is this the slave?"

"Yes Daddy." She confirmed. Her voice shook and was full of repressed tears. Billy kept his head bent, confused. All he had done was take Maeve her breakfast everyday for the past week. Surely that was no reason to punish him?

"Uncle, I have a suggestion if I may?" Cadfeal's cultured voice broke the silence. Natacka nodded his head for his nephew to continue. "Instead of killing him outright why not let him fight Dannon in the ring?"

"Yes Father. I will make him suffer for what he has done." 

The Baron did not look at his son or nephew but continued to stare at the slave in the middle of the room his lips pursed in thought. 

"Did you rape my daughter?" 

"WHAT?" Billy's head shot up.

"Did you rape my daughter?" He asked again even though Billy's reaction had already given him his answer.

"No. I just took her breakfast in mornings. I swear I never touched her." Pushing aside everything Cook had told him, he looked steadily into the Baron's eyes hoping that his master would be able to see that he was telling the truth. The Baron was the first to look away.

"I find your suggestion odd Cadfeal," his voice was full of speculation. "The last time one of my slaves was accused of merely touching my daughter you killed him before I could ever see him. This slave," He looked back at Billy, whose eyes were once again riveted to the floor, "has been accused of a far worse crime and yet he still lives. I find that curious. Don't you Tocust?"

"Very curious, My lord." 

"Daddy you can't possibly believe this slave over me?" 

"Silence." He roared. "Tocust you have a suggestion?"

"Yes Sire. If we are to avoid a scandal you will have to get rid of this slave." Billy' heart thudded in his chest. They couldn't possibly want to Kill him. Could they? 

"I realise that." Natacka raised an eyebrow waiting for his slavemaster to continue, albeit impatiently.

"The reports from the mine's overseers say that he is a very good mechanic. If we gave him the proper training he would be worth a fortune." The Baron nodded.

"Take him away." Natacka paused. "Before I forget," His tone belied the statement, "punish him for his disrespect."

"Yes my lord." Tocust cast Billy a small satisfied glance.

"Tocust, inform the Healer that she may heal his scars. He must be in good condition if we are to sell him for a good price." 

"My lord." Tocust bowed slightly. He then nodded to the guards holding Billy. 

The guards took him down several levels into the bowls of the palace. Deep under ground where his screams would not reach the surface and bother those in the higher levels. He was lead into a room where the only light came from the torch the guard was holding. Its flames danced around the room causing a chain hanging in the centre of the room to glisten. A table was pressed against the wall behind the chain. It was covered with instruments most of which Billy did not recognise but those that he did caused his breath to catch in his throat. He was pushed into the centre of the room. Instinctively he backed away from the guards. Somewhere deep inside him a voice screamed at him to fight; not to go along meekly. 

Billy unconsciously fell into a defensive position. The guards stopped momentarily, not used to slaves fighting back but then they smiled and it sent shivers down Billy's spine. This was not good. 

He danced away from the first guard's punch and duck underneath the other one's swinging arm. The wild swing threw the guard off balance and Billy used this to his advantage by pushing the guard into the first one. They fell to the floor yelling something in a language Billy did not understand. 

Pain unlike anything he had ever felt before surged through his body emanating from his wrist. Billy sunk to the floor and curled in on himself, hugging his wrist to his chest. Then just as suddenly as it had come the pain disappeared leaving Billy shaking and disorientated. Ruff hands pulled from him the floor and forced his arms up over his head. His wrists were shoved into the manacles attached to the chain. 

"That was very stupid, boy. Now I'm just going to have to punish you even more." There was no sympathy or regret in the slavemaster's tone. Tocust took an electro jabber from the table. He walked in a slow circle around the young slave. He looked like a cat in a river of cream. Tocust press the electro jabber against Billy's side and a bolt of pure agony shot through his body. Billy bit his lip refusing to scream. He did not want to give them the satisfaction. 

~&~

Consciousness came slowly to the young slave and he wished for all the world that it hadn't. Everything hurt even his eyelashes. He felt strange as if he were weightless. He opened his eyes to find everything was coated in a shade of peach. He knew where he was - a Bachta Tank. If it weren't for the breathing mask he would have groaned. He hated Healers. One of whom was standing in front of him checking his vitals. She looked up to see his eyes open and smiled warmly. Billy recognised her as the Healer who had treated him when he had first arrived. She was nice - for a Healer. She turned away from him and spoke to someone out of his field of vision. Then he was being lifted out of the Tank. The Healers lowered Billy onto a bed and began towelling him off. He was so tired that he was asleep before they had finished drying him.

~&~

"... Once I was completely healed they sent me to someone named Elol for an engineering course. After which I was bought by a woman named Aurora Jade and she sent me to work in an "All Terrain Tactical Enforcer" manufacturing plant on Retaw Kcab and then Teh stole me from there, lost me in a bet with that Hutt and well you know the rest." Billy finished just as the computer announced the end of it's search with a series of annoying high pitched beeps. Liam opened the first file muttering about stupid alarms and how the kept getting worse with every upgrade. Billy just smiled, used to his friend's habit of talking to, cajoling and cursing the computer terminals. Besides it was something they had in common.

"Look here!" Liam pointed at the screen triumphantly. "I was right, all we have to do is take you back to Earth and..."

"Earth?"

"Yes, Earth. You must have had friends... there..." Liam trailed off realising his blunder.

"Earth is a planet? And I lived there?" Billy's voice had an unmistakable edge.

"Yes." Liam found himself looking anywhere but at Billy.

"How long have you known about it?"

"Since shortly after you arrived."

"And you didn't tell me?!" 

"I know. I should have told you sooner." 

"Of cause you should have told me sooner. For over a year I have had no identity. I got my name off the back of a watch for Force sake! Liam this planet could be the key to my past, the key to who I am. And you DIDN'T tell me!" Billy heard the anger in his voice which was starting to rise. *"_Have to calm down. Anger leads to the dark side."* _ He reminded himself 

*" _But Liam told you that and he lied to you what else has he said that might not be true?"* _ The bitter voice rose in the back of his mind.

"Billy, I'm sorry." Now Liam held Billy's gaze. "But look at it from my perspective. My first duty is to protect this base and the people in it. I had to make sure you weren't an Imperial spy. Yes I didn't tell you and I realise my mistake now. But at the time I didn't know you. I had to be sure that I could trust you." Liam's voice was neutral.

"I take it your findings were inconclusive?" Billy's tone was icy. With a sigh Liam retrieved the file he had found using Billy's DNA. Billy read the information his lips pressed together in a thin line. When he had finished he pushed his chair back and stood.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to think." Liam felt his heart sink. All the ground they had covered seemed to fall away as a chasm opened between them.


End file.
